I just want to say thank you for the support on the last chapter and for the patience that you all showed while waiting for it. I hope that I can get this one out quickly so that you all may continue to read and enjoy the story.
EDIT: As you can see… I did not get this one done faster, in fact, it took way fucking longer. I apologize for the wait, but I hope you all enjoy it.
"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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Far off into the distance, past hundreds of feet of jungle and foliage, a pillar of smoke arose into the sky with a small source of light down at its base. And the five campers stared at it as they came to the realization that they were no longer alone on the island.
"It can't be. Is it?" Yasmina breathlessly spoke.
"I'm seeing it, too." Brooklynn said in acknowledgment.
"That is most def a bonfire." Kenji said with some rising excitement.
"People. People!" Sammy exclaimed as she put her hands on Yaz's shoulders and basically hung onto her.
"Someone got our SOS signal." Kenji concluded.
"Let's go find them. It's time to go home!" Darius recommended as his excitement grew.
And with that, the five campers took off into the night in search of those responsible for the bonfire, and hopefully, they'd be able to get them all home. But in their haste, they forgot one important detail.
What about Cass?
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* panting *
The teens all ran as fast as they could through the jungle, all giggling and cheering as they made their way to salvation.
"Oh, we're almost there. I can feel it." Sammy spoke.
All campers came to a halt as Brooklynn hurriedly climbed a tree to figure out where they were. "Yes! We're getting closer." The girl said with a gasp as she saw the pillar of smoke less than 200 feet away from them before quickly climbing back down the tree and regrouping with her fellow survivors who all cheered at the news.
And just like that, the teens once again ran off toward their intended destination with Kenji being the next one to climb a tree and spot the bonfires smoke roughly 100 feet away from them and he got down with a laugh of his own and they all once again ran forward laughing together.
"Come on! We're so close!" Darius shouted out as he vaulted over a fallen tree with his fellow campers doing the same after him. "Oh, it's real!"
"Guys, we're going home!" Brooklynn calls out to the others.
This time it was Darius's turn to climb a tree to see how far they had made it, but once he got up and started to look around, his expression changed from one of joy to worry and potential hopelessness, because there was no pillar of smoke to be seen anywhere. The young leader let out a gasp as he quickly climbed back down the tree before dropping down with a grunt.
"The bonfire, it's gone." Darius told them with clear worry and panic in his voice and Brooklynn could only let out a gasp at the news.
"What if they left?" Sammy asked as their plan of escape came crashing down around them. "What if the people who came to save us gave up and we missed our chance?" She said with an obvious wobble to her tone.
Kenji and Yasmina could only share a glance with each other as they too began to lose hope.
* dinosaur roar *
"Ah!" Darius let out a scream and began panting in fear as he and his fellow campers huddled up together with their backs facing each other. They began breathing heavily with the occasional shaky breath being let out.
"C-Could be a really big Compy, right?" Kenji whimpered knowing that he was wrong. "Darius, didn't you say they were creepo skylarks?" He asked as he absolutely butchered the actual word.
"I said they were crepuscular." Darius whispered back with a confused look on his face due to Kenji's obvious stupidity.
* leaves rustling *
* roaring *
Suddenly a Ceratosaurus emerged from the foliage stomping and thrashing around, scaring the teens and causing them to scream and collectively run away from the carnivore.
The campers ran through the jungle as fast as they could while batting any obstacles out of their ways such as bushes and low-hanging leaves. The Ceratosaurus was slower than some of the other dinosaurs that they had run from, but that didn't really matter when your life was at stake regardless, especially at night when the dino may or may not have the advantage.
The campers dodged between trees to hopefully throw off the much larger creature. But it wasn't working too well because the Ceratosaurus let out another roar before speeding up to continue the chase. Kenji looked back at the dino when it let out its roar, but he wasn't paying attention and ran face-first into a branch, effectively clotheslining himself and falling onto his back. And with him not getting out of the way, and Sammy focusing on not getting eaten, she tripped over the downed boy and joined him on the ground.
With the large carnivore approaching them faster than they'd like, the remaining three had no choice but to rush in front of their downed friends and attempt to guard them with their scavenged weapons.
"Okay, come on!" Brooklynn shouted out as she readied herself to defend herself and her team. Darius and Yasmina doing the same.
The Ceratosaurus let out one more roar as it charged forward.
* crackles and bangs *
But the dinosaur was stopped as a flare was launched near its face and blew up, causing it to groan in pain and in irritation due to the bright light.
"Get down!" A man yelled out as he pulled Brooklynn to the ground and ran past her.
The five teens were all on the ground behind a fallen tree as the sounds of gunshots and small explosions rang out.
* gunfire booming *
* explosions *
* roaring *
The Ceratosaurus finally had enough of the bombardment of flares and gunfire so it turned around and ran off back into the jungle. The teens coughed as they had to clear their lungs of the smoke that accumulated, with Darius finally letting out a gasp at the sight of who saved them.
"Oh, thank goodness. You're okay." Said the sole woman of the three before them.
The campers could only pant as they looked at their saviors in shock.
"You are okay, aren't you?" Said a man that was in an almost identical outfit to his female counterpart.
Finally, the remaining male of the trio turned around and silently looked at the teens with a hint of worry as he held his rifle to his side.
"Who… Who are you?" Darius slowly asked.
"Well, after all that, maybe you should call us your salvation." She jokingly said to the young campers.
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The oldest of the three adults let out a shout as he swung his machete through some low-hanging foliage and began clearing a path for himself and the others that trailed behind him.
"We could not believe it when we saw your campfire." Brooklynn said with a giggle of excitement as she and her fellow campers walked with the younger two of the adults.
"Did you get left behind too?" Yasmina asked them.
"Not looking like that, they didn't." Kenji said as he looked at their more expensive and clean-looking outfits.
"Yeah. Are you, like, some super stylish rescue squad?" Sammy asked in her usual amount of giddiness.
"Guys, take a breath." Darius said to them. "We don't even know your names." He told the two they were walking with.
"I'm Mitch, and my better half here is Tiff. We're eco-tourists." The younger man now known as Mitch said.
"That's a fancy way of saying we travel to exotic places and photograph rare animals." Tiff said as she placed her hands on the camera that hung around her neck.
"I know Simon Masrani. Or knew." Kenji butted in with his usual confidence but it turned into sadness towards the end.
"When we heard what happened here, we were, like, zoop!" Mitch said as he threw an arm forward as an example.
"Zoop! Gotta get down here." Tiff said following her second half's example. "I was fine taking snaps of lions and tigers, but-"
"Pics of dinosaurs in the wild? You don't pass that up, do you, babe?" Mitch said.
"I guess you don't, babe." Tiff said in return.
Sammy randomly busted out in laughter, which not only threw off her fellow campers but also Mitch and Tiff, causing the adults to give her some worried looks. Though her friends were a bit more used to her… randomness.
"I travel too! Before we got stuck here, obvi." Brooklynn told the two. "You've seen my videos, Brooklynn Unboxes the World?" She was met with silence and looks of confusion. "The web channel?" She tried to specify but they still haven't heard of her. Brooklynn just let out a quiet scoff as she deadpanned at the two.
"When we activated the emergency distress beacon, we hoped someone would get our signal. I kind of can't believe it worked." Darius said as he walked in front of the two and faced them.
"Oh, yes, the signal. Honey, remember when we got that? It was right after the boat dropped us off." Tiff said as she looked at Mitch.
* man shouting *
And said man was viciously hacking away at the bushes and branches that blocked his path.
"That's our tour guide, Hap. Came highly recommended. Knows cameras and the outdoors like the back of his hand, but not much of a talker." Mitch told the campers. "Almost there, right, Hap?" He asked but all he got in response was Hap grunting and continuously hacking away at the foliage.
Mitch could only offer an awkward chuckle in response as the continued to follow after the man towards their camp.
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"Our camp's not much, but hopefully you'll be okay roughing it with us." Mitch said as he and Tiff moved some leaves out of the way and gave the teens a view of their camp. And their camp consisted of four yurts all spread out almost into a square formation with the occasional lantern placed on the perimeter, with a wooden dining table and eight chairs sitting in the middle, it even had plates and utensils laid out at each seating position, and finally, there was a campfire off to the side with an additional three chairs placed around it.
"Oh, my god!" Sammy shouted out as she looked at all that was set up before them. "Ooh, stuff!"
"Oh, is this a dream?" Yaz asked as she couldn't believe her eyes either. "Out of my way!" She yelled out to her fellow campers before running off ahead and started looking at everything and was immediately joined by Darius and Brooklynn.
The teens began to all excitedly freak out over the not-so-basic things that the eco-tourists brought with them, oohing and awing at the luxuries that now surrounded them. Before the five of them, all rushed over to one of the yurts and checked inside of it and were once again blown away by the interior.
"Even the mosquito net is luxurious!" Sammy shouted out as she looked at the queen-sized bed that lay before them. The yurt had a queen-sized bed with its frame and a mosquito net hanging above it, a small table on either side with candles, a small bookshelf on the far left wall, and what appears to be a chair and desk over on the far right wall.
"This is what I imagined Kenji's penthouse would look like. But better because we aren't locked out." Yaz said the barbed comment towards the rich teen.
"I see brand names!" Brooklynn yelled out as she made a grabbing gesture as she reached out her arms but was ultimately pulled back by Darius.
"It's fine, I guess." Kenji said as he looked at the others who had wandered off. "Personally, I'd have arranged the yurts in more of an A-line config." He said as he tried to sound disinterested before closing the flap behind him and running toward the bed before flopping onto it, letting out muffled laughter at the feeling of a clean and soft bed again.
All the other campers were gathered around the table outside looking at everything that was set up. Plates, forks, knives, bowls, cups, and a pitcher. But Sammy let out a gasp that caught the others' attention as she grabbed something off the table.
"A can opener? Do you know how long I spent trying to open those cans of fruit we found?" Sammy whined as she knelt on the ground with the can opener clutched in her hands. "It almost broke me."
Tiff walked over to them and took off her hat as she looked at the girl in sympathy. "My goodness, I can't imagine how hungry you all must be. Would you like some breakfast?" She asked the young campers nicely.
And the only response she received was the five of them staring at her in shock with their mouths open, with Sammy dropping the can opener to the ground.
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Everyone was now sitting at the wooden table that stands in the middle of the camp, with the seating order being Tiff sitting at one end of the table, Mitch sitting to her right, Darius sitting next to Mitch, Kenji sitting next to Darius, Hap sitting on the other end of the table on the opposite end of Tiff, Brooklynn sitting on Hap's right, Yasmina sitting next to Brooklynn, and Sammy sitting next to Yaz as she's now on Tiff's left.
Everyone was eating and drinking as they rested. The food they had for breakfast was (of course) bacon, eggs, and toast. With the beverage being water.
"Good. Oh, man, that's good!" Sammy moaned out as she scarfed down what was on her plate since hadn't had food like this in well over a month.
"After that, we escaped another dinosaur attack, and another one." Darius explained to Mitch and Tiff as he ate a piece of toast. The adults show looks of concern and confusion as Mitch pours water into the mug of his other half. "Then we saw your bonfire…" He stopped himself as he continued eating.
"This is like cooking back home." Sammy said as she eat her food as Brooklyn, Kenji, and Yasmina opted to just silently stuff their faces and savor the food given to them.
"...and you saved us from a dinosaur attack." Darius finished up.
"So many attacks." Yasmina said before going back to eating.
"And here you are, after all you've been through." Tiff said. "Camp destroyed, being abandoned, losing your friend…" She said sadly as she tried to wave the tears from her eyes.
With those reminders, the five teens became quiet and saddened at the thought of all that's happened to them so far. Looking down into their laps or at their plates as they tried to avoid looking at anyone as they went over what has happened. Dinosaur attack after dinosaur attack, being left here with no one but themselves, losing Ben when they were so close to leaving…
"And we're not even sure if Cass is coming back…" Yaz whispered to herself as she clasped her hands on her mug. "We basically forgot about him until now…" She said as small tears formed in her eyes. 'How could I have forgotten about him…?'
And with that statement whispered out into the world, the other four campers sunk further into their spiral of sadness as they too finally remembered Cass's existence now that the adrenaline and excitement of being rescued had started to wear off.
Mitch put his left hand on Tiff's shoulder as he leaned closer to her slightly. "Don't be a downer, babe. They're with us now and they're safe." He said as the teens perked up at hearing those words. "And when our boat comes back in a couple of days-"
"After it refuels in Papagayo." Tiff said.
"After it refuels in Papagayo, we'll get you back to the mainland." Mitch told them. "And if we can, we'll try to find this Cass guy that you mentioned before the boat comes."
"We're leaving in two days?" Darius asked with a burst of excitement.
"Is this really happening?" Sammy asked in a hopeful tone.
"It is, sweetie. You're going home." Tiff said softly as she put a hand on Sammy's shoulder.
"Whoo-hoo!" Sammy shouted excitedly.
"Yes! Home!" Kenji said in excitement as he pumped his fist and slammed them on the table.
And the other campers could only laugh at the thought of them finally being able to go home after being on the island for so long, with Sammy giving Yasmina a comforting hug as they laughed together.
Mitch took a glance at the camera that was in his hands and looked toward Darius before giving the teen a little bump with his elbow to get his attention. "Hey, you wanna see some pics we took of Big Five animals in Botswana?" He asked as he turned the camera towards Darius and showed him the screen.
"Oh! These are so cool!" Darius said as he looked at a picture of a lion and an elephant.
"The camera does the work for you. I've also got a JC-1000." Kenji said in his usual cocky attitude as he tried to show off his status of being rich while checking out the camera model that Mitch uses. "Actually, I've got a JC-3000. Prototype, never been on the market-"
"Got any dinosaur shots?" Darius asked.
"Unfortunately, not yet. Personally, I had my sights set on the T. rex. I can't wait to see its craniofacial biting behavior in action." Mitch explained to him. "Sorry. I can be a bit of a nerd about dinosaurs." Mitch said.
"Craniofacial talk? I'll bite." Darius said jokingly. "Sorry. That- that was terrible." He said while nervously rubbing the back of his head.
"Looks like we both need muzzles." Mitch made a terrible joke back to Darius.
"I know, right?" Darius asked with joy as both he and Mitch laughed together about their shit dinosaur puns.
Kenji on the other hand merely fidgeted with a piece of bacon as he tried to pretend he wasn't affected by being ignored.
Brooklynn took a piece of toast but stopped herself before looking over at Hap. "You, uh, so this for a living, yeah?" She asked the much older man but was met with silence. "Not sure if you heard, but I travel the world too. Yep. Yep. Vlogger!" She said but was once again met with silence. "Kind of a big deal." Once again, silence from Hap. "Okay, so, where have you been, nature guide?"
Hap slowly turns his eyes to look at the girl before looking straight ahead again. "Nature places." He says plainly before continuing to eat.
"Do you take people on photography eco-tours a lot? Mitch said you came highly recommended. Is this your first time working with-" Brooklynn was saying.
Hap roughly set his plate back down on the table. "No more questions." He said with a bit of urgency. "Your food will get cold." He cooled himself and spoke in his usual cold and low tone.
"Alright, why don't you kids freshen up while we clear the table?" Tiff asked as she stood up from her seat. "It's a little primitive, sorry. In the bathroom yurt, you'll find a solar-powered shower and heated toilet." She said while gesturing toward the yurt.
Sammy stood up while chugging the last of her water before setting down her mug and walking over to Tiff and grabbing her arm. "I love you! It's fine if you don't say it back." She says in her usual overenthusiastic way before rushing off toward the yurt and coming back to Tiff. "Love you." She whispered before finally rushing over to the yurt and calling the others over.
And one by one, the campers all rushed over to the yurt. Brooklynn stood up but the white rectangular keycard fell out of her pocket and onto the ground. She went to reach for it but Hap managed to pick it up before her and began to examine it.
"Hey, that's mine." Brooklynn says as she reaches up to grab the card from him but his grip was too strong for her to beat. "Can you…?" She asked as she struggled to take it back while all Hap did was narrow his eyes at the sight of the card before letting it go.
"Brooklynn, come on." Darius shouted out.
Brooklynn watched Hap as she slowly walked away with the key card held close to her chest. And Hap made sure to watch the girl closely as she walked away with the key card.
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SOMEWHERE IN THE JUNGLE
* thump *
* thump *
* thump *
A dinosaur let out a low and deep growl as it looked down at something shiny on the ground. That item was none other than Kenji's now-forgotten butter knife.
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BACK ON MAIN STREET
* thump *
* thump *
* thump *
The vibrations from the massive theropod stomping around her home traveled throughout the park and shook some of the buildings, particularly the Innovation Center, and with great booming footsteps, she finally went back to her lair after making sure no other… unwanted intruders made it into her home, like the Allosaurus that she had made into a meal.
And with all the noise that was made as well as the constant shaking, someone had begun to slowly come back to the land of the living.
Cass slowly began to open up his eyes as he lay face down on the floor, which was also covered in his blood, so his view was slightly obscured by reflections of a combination of dried and liquid red. But after a few minutes of him slowly (and I do mean slowly) looking, shifting his right eye around the room to see where he was.
'Right… I'm in the Innovation Center…' He thought to himself as he struggled to gather the energy to get up from the floor, so he opted to just roll over onto his back, though that did put some strain on his right arm as the muscles in his body pulled and stretched. But he luckily managed to roll onto his back while only hissing out in pain a little. 'It seems as though Lady Luck and Lady Death haven't abandoned me yet...'
'Wait… why does my arm hurt so much…?' He mentally asked himself as the events that transpired beforehand were a blur at the moment. So he carefully, and might I add painfully, lifted his right arm to get a better look at the damaged limb. Cass hissed in pain and in slight disgust as he looked at his mangled arm. Deep teeth marks ran from his right pectoral and shoulder area then dragged down the entirety of his right arm and hand, completely destroying the sleeve of his shirt. Thankfully, it appears that the wound had scabbed over while he was unconscious.
"That… looks like shit." He slightly chuckled to himself as he lower his arm down onto his stomach. "But thankfully that seems to be the only thing wrong. I will have to clean and bandage it whenever I get the chance." He mumbled to himself as he placed his left hand on the floor and tried his best to push himself up into a sitting position. "I don't exactly know where that dinosaur has been or what it put in its mouth." Cass strained a smile as he lightly chuckled to himself all while slowly and stiffly getting himself into a standing position. With every movement, bones popped and cracked as his muscles screamed out in pain from not being used in the last 12-plus hours that he had been unconscious.
"Fuck me, that was a lot harder to do than I thought." Cass groaned out through slightly clenched teeth as he placed his left hand on his thigh and held himself up. But after a few minutes, he stood up straight, allowing his back to stretch and pop before looking back down at his wounded arm. He let out a sigh as he came to the conclusion that he'd have to remove the ruined clothing that stuck to his appendage.
"Yeah, this is going to sting…" He spoke to himself as he used his left hand to unbutton his flannel, it was a bit difficult, but he still managed to do so, and after slipping his left arm out of the sleeve, he reached across and grabbed onto the torn-up right sleeve and slowly and gently pulled it down the length of his arm, occasionally hissing in pain as the cloth dragged across some of the more sensitive parts of the wounds, but he soon got the shirt off of him and looked at the jagged lines that ran down his arm.
"At least I'm not actively bleeding right now. But I will have to wrap it up later once I get back to camp." He spoke to himself as he turned and bent his arm in different directions so that he could inspect it thoroughly. "Speaking of camp… I hope the others are alright. I kinda did just almost die on them… Fuck. How am I gonna explain the wounds? "Oh, hey, guys. I'm back with some clothes and necessities, also, I almost got eaten by an Allosaurus. So how are you?" Cass sarcastically said to himself as he clinched and unclenched his hand. 'Good, everything seems to still work. It's just going to fucking hurt, yay.' He groaned out mentally as he steadily walked over to the tote bags that he had gotten the previous day but just a few steps into his walk, he heard the crunching of dried blood on his clothes.
"Gods, how much did I bleed?" He asked himself slightly incredulously as he looked down at himself and noticed that he was covered in his own dried blood. Right arm, right side of his torso, almost the entire front half of his right thigh, hell, he even had some on the right side of his face and neck, even some got into his hair. The blood slightly appeared on the left parts of his body, but it definitely was focused on his right half.
"I'm really going to need a shower… or I can just throw myself into the river, whatever works better." Cass joked with himself as he tried to avoid the thought of how easy it was going to be for the more… carnivorous dinosaurs on the island to find him.
With a shake of his head, Cass focused on the task at hand and reached into one of the tote bags and dug around until he found what he was looking for and pulled out a pocket knife, which he definitely didn't take from a dead guy. He flipped the knife open and placed it against the lip of his right sleeve and made a slow cut into it toward himself before pulling away and placing the knife at the lip of the shirt that was near his neck and making a slow cut away from himself down the length of his shoulder and down the right sleeve. And with the two cuts, the right sleeve and shoulder area came undone and loosened up as the cloth fell to both his chest and back.
"There we go… now it's not so tight or pressing into the wound." Cass said to himself as he got a better look at his right pectoral and shoulder. "How the fuck am I not dead? Or hell, not missing an arm?" He wondered to himself before flipping the knife closed and sliding it into his front pocket. He picked up the remains of his black flannel, wrapped the arms around his waist, and tied them together, groaning at the burning he was feeling in his wound before taking some deep breaths and grabbing his supplies with his left hand, and grabbed his sledgehammer with his right. While it did hurt a bit to grip and hold something that actually had some weight to it, Cass wasn't going to let go until he had to.
'The sooner I get back to camp, the sooner I can start not dying.' He thought to himself as he walked toward the back door and grabbed the handle. "Alright… let's try not to get attacked this time." Cass cracked another half-assed sarcastic joke to himself as he opened the door and began making his way back to camp.
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BACK AT MITCH AND TIFF'S CAMP / IN THE BATHROOM YURT
"Pre-pasted toothbrushes? What are we, royalty?" Sammy rhetorically asked before letting out a gasp. "Four kinds of hand cream? Eeh!" She squealed out. "Little soap peacocks!"
"Please, this is all so basic." Kenji says as he tries to pretend that he isn't loving every second of being surrounded by luxury once again, all while sitting on the toilet and occasionally playing with the food that's on the plate he brought with him. "If you guys had seen my penthouse-"
"Shh." Brooklynn quickly hushes the older teen. "I can't prove it yet, but I think…" She leaves the rest of that sentence hanging as she goes over to the entrance of the yurt and slightly opened it up just in time to see Hap walk past them. She quickly gathered her fellow campers in the bathroom stall and closed the curtain so they could have some privacy.
"...there's something going on with Hap." Brooklynn finished her sentence from earlier in a hushed tone. "He dodged all my questions and was really weird about the key card I found in Wu's lab." She said all this while Kenji noisily ate his food before having it taken away by Yaz.
"Mitch and Tiff are clueless." Brooklynn continues. "She's too "golly goodness" to notice anything, and all he thinks about is dinosaurs."
"What's wrong with that?" Darius asked the slightly older girl.
"No, I…" Brooklynn cuts herself off with a sigh. "I'm just saying Hap's suspicious. He's gruff, and unsmiling, and-"
"What's wrong with that?" Yasmina asked in the gruffest and blank-faced way she could.
"I don't mean… Look, could Hap be involved with Mantah Corp? Am I crazy?" The pink-haired superstar asked.
Darius and Kenji just shared a look among themselves.
"I mean, the Mantah Corp folks who sent me were like corporate spies, not action-man, secret-identity, pew-pew spies." Sammy told her.
"Look, I know you've got conspiracy on the brain, Brooklynn, but forget Hap. In two days, we're going home. Let's focus on that and trying to find Cass." Darius said to her.
"Don't worry, Brooklynn. Just in case, we'll keep our eyes open." Sammy told her fellow camper.
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Sammy had her eyes closed as she let out a deep sigh of relief and satisfaction as Tiff massaged the girl's shoulders.
"I have a Reiki healer back home who showed me a few tricks. Miracle worker." Tiff said to Sammy as she rubbed her shoulders.
Brooklynn sat near the table with her arms crossed and a slightly annoyed look on her face as she looked at her fellow campers and noticed that none of them are trying to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Yasmina had her eyes closed as she was reclined in one chair with her feet propped up on another with a look of relaxation and slight worry on her face, Darius was sat at the end of the table with Mitch as the adult showed the young camper pictures of the animals he's taken, and Kenji… well Kenji was still stuffing his face with breakfast.
But then, Brooklyn caught sight of Hap walking out of the jungle with a large duffle bag in each hand, and just as he made his way behind a yurt, Brooklynn saw the older man look around as if trying to make sure no one saw him.
And with that, the superstar decided she was going to follow him, she saw Hap stop next to the rear entrance to another yurt and set down the bags, and opened one up while she hid behind a blue barrel.
Suddenly, someone walked up behind the girl and grabbed her shoulder, causing her to let out a gasp and turn around, revealing the person to be Kenji.
"What are you doing? Is it spying?" The older teen asked in a hushed tone.
"No! It is not spying." Brooklynn said in a similar tone as she turned to face Hap again before ultimately turning back around to face Kenji. "Okay, it's spying. What are you doing?" She asked him.
"Dude, I just had to get away from Tiff and Mitch. I don't get how anyone could stand them!" Kenji complained while still whispering. "It's like, we get it, you're rich. You don't have to throw it in our faces." He hypocritically said knowing damn well that he was guilty of doing the same thing.
Brooklynn could only look at the dumb teenager as he said that because she and all the other campers are tired of hearing him brag about being rich.
"Look at the lens cover." Hap said to himself as he stood there and fidgeted with a camera and its lens cover, groaning in aggravation. "The threads don't match up!" He suddenly let out in a small moment of anger.
"Nope, not at all weird that a guide for photographers isn't good with cameras." Brooklyn said out loud.
"What do I do with this?" Hap whispered to himself before walking through the curtain and into his yurt.
Brooklynn and Kenji caught sight of what looked like a wooden crate with red markings on it before the flap blocked their view once more.
"We gotta get into that yurt." Brooklynn told Kenji as the older boy gave a look of apprehension.
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OUT INTO THE JUNGLE
The sounds of the jungle echoed throughout the area as birds chirped and bugs chittered while three people made their way through it before coming to a halt at the sight of a dinosaur.
"Look!" Mitch says in a hushed tone as he called over his two companions for this trip, Tiff and Darius.
* baby dinosaur squeaking *
And as the three of them looked forward, they saw a group of Compys, with there being five in total, all shrieking at each other as they gathered in a small area of open ground. Mitch brought up his camera and was about to take a photo of the small prehistoric creatures.
"Oh, so cute!" Tiff said out loud as she walked past both Mitch and Darius and up to the group of Compsognathus. "Come here, little guy." She said in a sweet tone as if the dinosaur was a type of puppy before sticking her hand out toward one.
"No, stop!" Darius yelled out knowing what will happen.
Tiff let out a gasp as she turned around to face them, but the Compys took that as their opportunity to strike as they let out shrieks and jumped toward the woman. Three of the Compys landed on her and started biting at her ascot, the collar of her shirt, and her belt while the remaining two stayed on the ground and bit her boots. Tiff was obviously screaming the whole time she was getting attacked.
"Hey!" Darius called out and had gotten the dinos' attention. "Over here!" He said as he waved a half-eaten candy bar in his hands before throwing it as far as he could over some rocks.
The Compys immediately let go of Tiff and took off after the food before grabbing it and running even further into the jungle to eat their meal.
"That was close." Darius said as he and Mitch ran forward while the older man held his wife to comfort her. "They look cute, but they actually have trace amounts-"
"—Of venom in their bites. Quick thinking, D." Mitch said as he looked at the young teen. "How did you know that would work?" He asked in reference to him being able to lure away the Compys with food.
"I've been keeping a log of their scavenging and other dinosaur behaviors." Darius said in a semi-proud tone as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his field guide and handed it to Mitch. "I mean, it's not much."
Both Mitch and Tiff looked into the journal and saw the pictures and notes that were written down. "This is incredible, Darius!" Mitch said as he handed off the guide to Tiff.
"And Yaz drew all the pictures. Pretty great, right?" Darius asked.
"We haven't seen even a tenth of the dinosaurs you have. Maybe we've been looking in the wrong places." Tiff said as she flipped through the pages of the journal.
"We've only got two days to see these magnificent animals. And when the legal battles end and this park closes for good, what will all of this have been for?" Mitch said as he took some steps forward and saw the group of Compys playing together roughly 30 feet from them. "Will it still mean anything to anyone?"
Darius walked up to Mitch and saw what he was looking at before speaking. "Hey, two days is still plenty of time to explore! In fact, I know a place not too far from here that will blow your minds. You in?" Darius asked as he glanced between the two adults.
* alarm blaring *
That sound caught their attention as the sound came from the camp.
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BACK AT MITCH AND TIFF'S CAMP
* alarm blaring *
"Ah!" Both Kenji and Brooklynn yelped out as they covered their ears to dampen the harmfully loud noise coming from the yurt.
"You!" Hap angrily shouted as he emerged from the jungle. "Step away from the yurt!" He continued to yell as he walked over to the two teens, meaning the noise was even louder.
Mitch, Tiff, and Darius all broke out of the tree line and back onto the campgrounds as they had run once they heard the alarm. "What's going on?" Tiff asked.
"Isn't it obvious? The chatty one and the… hair were trying to sneak into the yurt." Hap said as he pressed a button on his remote that turned off the alarm. "These kids can't go snooping into private spaces." He said as he and Brooklynn glared/stared at each other.
"Now, now, Hap. I'm sure it was all a misunderstanding." Tiff said as she put a hand on Hap's arm.
""Misunderstanding"?" Hap questioned before pointing a finger at Brooklynn. "Do yourself a favor and stay out of my yurt."
"Let's talk about this calmly, okay?" Tiff asked as she slowly dragged the older man away from the teens.
And as he was being dragged away, Brooklynn crossed her arms and gave him a look of suspicion and almost tauntingly smug questionability. Both Sammy and Yasmina joined up with them, Sammy gave Brooklynn a look of worry and slight unease, while Yaz on the other hand just blankly stared at the younger girl with trace amounts of disappointment while wishing that Cass was there so she didn't have to be the solely responsible camp member.
"Sorry about that." Mitch apologized as he and Darius looked at Tiff and Hap before turning their gaze on the other campers, all while Darius gave her a deadpan look for once again breaking into somewhere and getting caught. "It's our first time working with Hap, and he's very protective of his yurt. Set it up himself, and moved all the equipment in. Hasn't even allowed us in."
"Ha! See? See?" Brooklynn excitedly semi-shouted as if this completely proves her point while everyone gave looks of worry and confusion.
"Maybe we should postpone our trek. You've all been through a lot." Mitch says quietly to Darius. "Especially that one… it seems."
"No, it's… It's fine." Darius said as he tried to reassure Mitch. "Brooklynn won't touch the yurt, and we'll all go to the place I wanted to show you."
"Uh, Darius? I think maybe we should freshen up before we decide that." Brooklynn said between grit teeth.
"We already freshened up." Darius responded through grit teeth.
"Can never be too fresh." Brooklynn said with emphasis,
Darius could only let out a sigh and once again give her a deadpan look before giving in.
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IN THE BATHROOM YURT
"Really? There isn't anywhere else we can talk?" Yasmina asked as once again she and her fellow campers are all gather in the bathroom stall.
"Hap is hiding something! Why put an alarm on a yurt?" Brooklynn asked in a hushed tone so that the adults couldn't hear them.
"Uh, so a dinosaur or a you can't sneak in and wreck his stuff?" Yaz answered like it was obvious.
"I was there, too, and that alarm was definitely crepuscing me out." Kenji added while saying a word he didn't know the meaning of.
"Typical." Darius says with a scoff and a roll of his eyes.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Brooklynn asked pointedly.
"You can't just let this conspiracy stuff go, huh? And for what? A new video to boost your followers?" Darius said with an annoyed tone.
"Who said anything about followers? You think I'm doing this to get attention?" Brooklynn shot back at the accusation.
"Yes! That's your whole deal. You're mad Mitch and Tiff haven't heard of you, and now you're doing this." The young leader accused.
"And what's your whole deal, Darius? Dinosaurs? You care more about them than actual people." The superstar shot back as she got in his face.
"That's hilarious! You calling me selfish." Darius called her out.
"You're obsessed. Just because Mitch is acting all "cool dad" with you doesn't…" Brooklynn started but immediately stopped herself once she saw Darius's shocked expression of hurt and realized what she said. Everyone else in the stall also gained looks of shock and surprise at what they heard.
"Oh…" Brooklynn softly let out as she saw Darius's face go from shocked to just outright hurt and sad. "No, D-Darius. I-I didn't-" She stuttered but didn't get to continue as Darius turned around and flung the curtain open while walking out of the bathroom, leaving the others in silence for a moment.
Kenji didn't say anything as he walked out after Darius.
Yasmina looked back at the pink-haired girl before walking out too. "Not cool, superstar." She said in a quieter tone.
Sammy slightly lagged behind Yaz and thought about saying something but chose not to. 'Cass would be disappointed.'
Which left the now guilty-feeling girl to sit in the bathroom on her own as she took a deep breath to try and collect herself.
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OUTSIDE WITH MITCH AND TIFF
Darius stomps his way through the camp to meet up with Mitch while walking past Tiff, Yasmina and Sammy follow right behind the younger boy.
"Uh, what about your other friend?" Tiff asked in a quieter tone as she gestured in the direction of Brooklynn.
"Don't worry about her. She's doing her own thing." Darius said in a still hurt but sharp tone, and with that, the group of five walked off into the jungle as they went on the little trek that Darius had planned out.
Brooklynn could only stare at their backs as they walked off before pulling out a chair from the table and taking a seat. She let out a soft sigh as she held her pace up using her right hand while staring at the table sadly.
* footsteps approaching *
Kenji took an abrupt seat next to the upset girl and just offered her a look.
"Aren't you gonna go with them?" Brooklynn asked in a shaky tone with a voice crack as she looked over at him.
"No. I'm staying here." Kenji said in a more gentle tone. "Look, I know you didn't mean the "dad" thing. It… was a slip. Happens to everyone, even me. Especially me. Darius knows you didn't mean it that way, too. Just give him time." Kenji said in his best attempt at soothing the girl's mind and helping her feel better.
Brooklynn visibly became less sad at his words and some possible thinking on her end before standing up and grabbing Kenji's arm. "Come on. Even if Hap reset the alarm, I can disarm it." She said before walking off toward Hap's yurt.
"Wait, what? Okay…" Kenji gained a surprised expression for a second before turning it into a confused one. "How did "give him time" turn into "break back into the yurt"?" He asked in a hushed tone as he followed after the girl.
"Because once I prove I'm right, Darius will have to forgive me." She said before jogging off ahead of the older teen.
"I can't believe I'm the voice of reason here." Kenji said to himself. 'Cass, for the love of fuck, please come back. I'd rather you be the responsible one.' Kenji thought as he ran to catch up with his fellow camper. He let out a sigh as they both stopped before the yurt. "Brooklynn."
Brooklynn suddenly pulls the yurt's curtain to the side and both teens let out a gasp of surprise because standing in front of them and staring right at them, was none other than Hap. The older man stepped past the threshold of his yurt, forcing the teens to take a few steps back as he stood before them.
"Mitch and Tiff asked me to go with them, but I said, "Nah, I'll make sure those two don't get into any trouble." He said in a gruff and gravelly tone as he put his left hand on Brooklynn's shoulder and right hand on Kenji's shoulder. "Let's not make this any more unpleasant than it needs to be." He said as he firmly held them in place.
Brooklynn and Kenji could only look up at the older man in fear.
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WITH CASS
After trekking through the jungle for over an hour, Cass was starting to feel tired and weak. Having nothing to eat or drink for over 12 hours, plus losing a decent amount of blood will do that to someone. Thankfully, just as he was ready to stop and take a break, he spotted the camp that he and the others had made.
'Alright, just a little bit more. Then we can stop.' He told himself as he took a deep breath and began walking once more toward camp. It had taken him roughly three minutes to get there as well as the occasional time when his grip on his hammer and supplies would falter, but he managed to keep ahold of everything and make it to the base of their camp.
"Now, all I've gotta do is climb this ladder and then I can finally rest. Problem is… how?" Cass asked himself as he looked at the ladder and then down to his two occupied hands, one full of necessities for both himself and his fellow campers, while the other hand held a tool that's helped his group for months.
"I'm gonna fucking hate this." He grumbled as he put the sledgehammer in his left hand with the bags so his right hand is free. Cass took a deep breath before reaching forward and grabbing the ladder with his right hand and slowly and painfully pulled himself up and began to make his way up the ladder. Eventually, he managed to get to the top and basically collapsed on the platform that made up the floor of their base.
"Note to self: Don't get attacked by an Allosaurus again, shit sucks." Cass jokingly complained to himself as he laid down on the wooden floor while he regained his breath and energy. But sooner than later he got up and started to move. He placed his sledgehammer right next to the couch and set the tote bags on the table in front of himself.
"Before I do anything, I need to clean and bandage this wound." Cass said lowly as he walked over to the crate that held all their bandages and medicinal alcohol. Grabbing a roll of bandages, a bottle of Isopropyl alcohol, and some cotton balls. He made his way back over to the couch and sat down while putting the things on the table.
Cass removed his shirt while trying to not irritate or cause any pain to his wound. He grabbed the bottle of alcohol and twisted the cap off, just by opening it he could smell how strong it was. He grabbed a cotton ball and placed it at the opening of the bottle and slightly tipped the bottle so that the alcohol would get into the cotton. Without missing a beat, Cass immediately put the cotton ball against the teeth marks on his chest and hissed out in pain, because fuck did it burn. But he slowly and sometimes shakily rubbed the cotton ball across the teeth marks on his flesh, occasionally having to replace the cotton ball due to it absorbing too much blood and becoming useless. But after a painstakingly long 20 minutes of what felt to be torture was over.
'Fuck… me.' Cass thought with a shaky breath as he put the cap back on the bottle and grabbed the roll of bandages. "This is gonna be hard…" He mumbled to himself. And hard it was, seeing as he had to essentially wrap his chest, shoulder, entire right arm, and hand with nothing but his left arm. Every time the bandage pressed into the wound when he tightened it or when he had to pull and dragged across the semi-open wound, he would hiss and groan in pain, but ultimately stayed conscious as he did this, knowing he couldn't stop. And after what felt like 15 minutes, his wound was completely wrapped and covered.
'I'm gonna hate when I have to do that again, maybe I can get one of the girls to help me…' Cass thought to himself as he started to get tired. 'Speaking of…'
'...where is everybody…?'
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WITH THE GROUP ON THEIR TREK
"You guys are gonna love this place. It's just up here." Darius said in an excited tone of voice as he led the others up a hill that overlooked a large patch of jungle.
* dinosaur growls in the distance *
"Wow!" Mitch said in astonishment as Tiff merely gasped at the sight before them.
And before them was a herd of Brachiosaurus grazing on the leaves from the tree tops that they towered over, bellowing out in enjoyment and peace as they ate their meal while Mitch and Tiff started to immediately take photos of the majestic beasts.
* dinosaur howls *
Darius looked between Mitch and the Brachiosauruses a few times with a smile on his face before getting an idea.
* imitating howl *
Lo and behold, the howl was as accurate as it could be, seeing as how it had actually gained the attention of one of the plant-eating titans and caused it to come over to check out the noise. Mitch looked at the approaching dinosaur and then at Darius with a smile on his face before putting an arm around the young teen's shoulder.
* footsteps approaching *
Mitch took a step forward and lifted his left hand up at the Brachiosaurus that stopped before them and lowered its head, almost as if he was trying to touch the large herbivore.
* growls *
The Brachiosaurus let out a small noise as it gazed at them. Darius once again imitated the howl of the Brachiosaurus, with Mitch doing the same soon after. The large dino let out a huff before raising its head once more and walking off toward its family.
"If you think this is cool, there is one more place we could go." Darius told Mitch as he pulled out his field guide and showed him a specific page.
"The watering hole." Mitch said in barely contained wonder as he looked at the drawing.
"Just my favorite place on the island! I mean, getting that close to so many herbivores and carnivores, and nobody's fighting?" Darius said with clear-as-day excitement in his voice.
"You could get lots of good pictures there! There are so many dinosaurs!" Sammy told them as she was getting excited herself.
"Babe, what would we do without this kid?" Mitch rhetorically asked as he was looking forward to the watering hole.
"Let me radio Hap with the change of plans. Watering hole day!" Tiff happily said as Mitch reached forward and ruffled Darius's hair, causing the young teen to chuckle.
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BACK AT MITCH AND TIFF'S CAMP
Currently, it appears that Brooklynn and Hap were having a staring competition, but Brooklynn appears to be losing as she starts to yawn and ever so slowly starts to drift asleep. Kenji… well Kenji is long gone into the world of dreams as he slumped over on Brooklynn's right shoulder while drooling and snoring away. Finally, Brooklynn couldn't keep her eyes open for much longer, and with a sigh, she fell asleep too.
Suddenly, Hap's walkie-talkie beeped.
"Come in, Hap. Hap, come in." Tiff's voice could be heard coming through. Hap grabbed the radio and stood up from his chair and walked away to have this discussion.
And as his footsteps got further and further away, Brooklynn's eyes opened up, and once he was out of sight, she suddenly jerked forward and got Kenji off of her while simultaneously waking him up.
"I'll save you, mermaid." Kenji mumbled in his still half-asleep voice.
"Do you only have one dream? Come on. Now is our chance." Brooklynn whispered to him before grabbing his arm and dragging him with her, causing him to yelp in shock.
They snuck their way to the yurt that they saw Hap disappear behind and stayed close to the walls while crouching down.
"No, you listen. I'm done." They heard Hap say from around the corner. "No, I don't care what-" He started to chuckle as he was interrupted. "This isn't a threat, this is a promise." Hap said before suddenly raising his voice. "Stay out of my way! I'll take care of these kids myself!" And with that, Hap dropped the walkie-talkie to the ground and walked back toward the table, only to find the two teens missing.
"No." Hap said with a gasp and a genuine look of worry on his face as he looked around for them. He spotted both Kenji and Brooklynn bolting into the treeline as they cast a look back at him.
With a growl, Hap stalks forward after them.
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BACK WITH THE GROUP
"Babe, you okay?" Mitch asked while he turned around and he saw his wife jog up to them while panting.
"You know, babe, I think we should pack up, head back to camp." Tiff said to her husband.
"Uh, what's going on?" Yasmina asked as both she and Sammy heard what was said and turned to look at them.
"Oh, nothing big." Tiff tried to play it off. "Just an odd conversation with Hap. Why don't we go? Now, okay? Okay." She said in a worried tone as she grabbed Mitch by the hand and practically dragged him with her. The three campers looked at the pair in slight curiosity and suspicion as they walked off.
"Do you think…?" Sammy let that question hang in the air.
"I'm sure everything's fine." Darius said as he was the first to follow after Mitch and Tiff, soon followed by Yasmina and Sammy.
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BACK AT MITCH AND TIFF'S CAMP
Once they had arrived at camp, they almost immediately noticed that no one was there, so they began calling out and searching for them.
"Guys!" Yaz called out.
"Brooklynn! Kenji!" Sammy yelled out.
"He's not in the bathroom either." Tiff said as she walked back over to the others as they all gathered around the campfire. "Children, Mitchell and I are gonna have a quick grown-up conference. You stay put. We'll BRB, okay?" She told the three campers that were still with them before leading her husband by the arm away from them but began whispering to him.
"Mitch, I am telling you…" Tiff whispered.
"Relax." Was all Mitch said as he was dragged away.
"...this is ridiculously off track." She said as they kept walking and getting further away from the teens.
The three teens could only look at their retreating forms with looks of slight confusion as they only heard bits and pieces of their conversation.
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IN THE JUNGLE WITH BROOKLYN AND KENJI
The two teenagers were running as if their lives depended on it as they were trying to get away from Hap, who was quite easily managing to close the distance between himself and the two campers. As they're running, Kenji almost trips but manages to correct himself with a yelp.
"Keep going!" Brooklynn breathlessly said as she herself was running as fast as she could. Both she and Kenji turned around only to see that Hap was indeed still catching up to them as he sprinted through the jungle and smacked away any foliage in his path as he looked dead set on catching them.
Brooklynn and Kenji climbed over a log that was in their way, Brooklynn getting over it relatively easily, while as usual, Kenji seemed to find a way to fall on his face before getting back up and running again. Hap though… Hap sped up his running speed to be able to jump on top of the fallen tree and then immediately off of it, and with that time-saving maneuver of his, he closed even more distance between himself and the others.
After a few more yards worth of sprinting, Hap managed to catch up to them and grabbed Brooklynn by the arm, and pulled her towards himself. Of course, the girl let out a shriek of fear and panic before trying to defend herself by throwing an elbow into Hap's chest, and with the older man not wanting to be hit by one of those, he simply just shoved Brooklynn into Kenji causing both of them to fall to the ground.
Both Brooklynn and Kenji had their backs to a rock as Hap stood before them.
"I told you to stay put!" He yelled at them. "You have no idea who you're dealing-" Hap was suddenly cut off by getting hit in the back of the head with a decent-sized branch.
The two would-be captives looked down at the unconscious man before looking up at their savior and noticed that it was a teenager who looked familiar to them, but seeing the massive Ankylosaurus that charged up to them before stopping beside the boy and letting out a roar sealed the deal on who saved them.
"Ben?" Kenji asked in a surprised and almost shaky tone.
He merely smirked at the two and said with a level of confidence that he never had before.
"What? You've never seen a ghost before?"
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Holy fucking shit, I finally managed to get this chapter done. As you can tell by the almost three-month gap between this chapter and the last one, I've been kinda busy and my mental energy wasn't all that great. But I managed to find a way to get myself to write at least a couple hundred words every day about a week ago. So hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out in a much shorter time.
But as a treat for all of you, here's a new chapter for Halloween.
And hopefully, I can keep doing this, thank you all for reading, and I will be working on the next one soon.