A/N: this is my first ever story, it takes place where season one leaves off. Yes I know season 2 is out now but I wanted to go a different direction. My schedule is packed so chapters will likely be in the one to two week range, especially cause I like long chapters. I have a pretty good idea where I'm going to take this story and have a whole lot of places I wanna go with it. Anyway I hope you enjoy it.
"How long do you think it will take? For them to come back for us I mean " Brooklynn asked, doing her best to sound cheerful, though the worry in her voice gave away her true feelings.
Darius thought for a moment. "Well, I doubt they would send the ferries back, that would take too long. They would more likely send a chopper, they would be able to look for survivors over a vast area, Plus it could already be in the air and on its way right now" he said.
"I bet your right" Kenji agreed. "I bet we start hearing them any minute now" he said.
"So…We should stay here right? Sammy asks supporting Yasmina. The choppers would come here first wouldn't they?"
"Yeah…Here or the main park…." Darius responded, with mild concern in his voice.
"What's wrong?" Yasmina asked shifting her weight more on to her good leg.
Darius looked up and down the dock, to his relief he saw nothing. "it's just that we're awfully exposed out here" he cautioned "we need to get a little more out of sight".
"what about there?" Yasmina asked, pointing to a boat house at the end of the dock.
"that'll do, let's get over there and check it out, preferably before we're spotted by a stray pterodactyl" Darius said drawing a shiver from Kenji.
"Or the Indominus" Sammy added.
Together they made their way to the boat house. The building wasn't large, maybe 40' wide and about as long. Inside there were two bays, a Jurassic world zodiac in one, the other bay was empty. The place was constructed lightly, just a simple metal frame covered with sheet metal, much like one of those sheds you would put an RV under, except this was shaped more like a garage with three walls, the fourth open to the ocean. It was much cooler in the boat house than on the dock, the sun was high overhead, Darius guessed it was around noon and he was thankful for the shade.
Brooklynn helped Sammy to set Yaz against the wall, while Kenji found a pair of life jackets, which he used to prop up her injured leg.
"Thanks.." Yaz muttered, seething at the idea of being helped.
The campers weren't feeling very talkative, the combination of exhaustion, disappointment, and grief from the loss of Ben weighed heavy on their hearts and minds. Yasmina leaned against the wall with leg up and eyes closed, just trying to be alone with her thoughts. Her ankle throbbed, she knew it was just sprained but that didn't change the fact that she couldn't put weight on it, couldn't walk, couldn't run….couldn't survive, not without the others. Her thoughts began to swirl and turn dark like an approaching thunderstorm.
"It's my fault they are stuck here…I slowed them down too much. If they weren't having to drag me along with them they would have made it here in time." She thought bitterly. Her own thoughts suddenly turned on her accusingly, mocking her. "why…? Why didn't you let the mosasaurs take you? You knew what you were doing when you climbed out of that kayak. You were ready to die to save your friends. And you did save them, they made it because of your distraction. But you chickened out. All you had to do was step off the platform and it would have been over, instead you made them try to save you and got yourself hurt and doomed their chances of escape….your a coward!"
"I n..never ment to…" she thought weakly.
"of course you didn't" came the response, "But now they will all have to pay for your selfishness, Ben already has…, with his life"
Ben!..Yasmina's heart skipped a beat. Ben had been different than the rest of the campers, indeed he had been different than any guy Yaz had ever met. Sure he was a dork and scared of….well.. everything but at the same time he was sweet, and sensitive, and compassionate. Though she didn't agree with bringing Bumpy along, the guts he showed defending not only Bumpy, but also his decision to watch over her impressed her.
Most importantly to Yaz was he was real. All his flaws out in the open for the world to see, nothing was hidden with him, he was who he was, take it or leave it. To Yaz that kind of courage more than made up for his fears.
"You killed him" the darkness inside her stated matter of factly. "You were right there. You saw Darius losing his grip. You could have jumped down and grabbed him. Together you and Darius could have pulled him in….but you didn't. You just stood there. You should have saved him, but u didn't. You watched him fall, you watched him die, you could have stopped it, YOU killed Ben, his blood is on YOUR hands."
The look in Ben's eyes as he fell was seared into her brain, it was an image Yaz knew she would never be able to burry, no matter how hard or how desperately she tried.
Sammy stared at her feet. The silence in the boat house was eerie, even the usually talkative Kenji was quiet. He and Brooklynn were quietly digging through cabinets and boxes to the right of her looking for anything the group could use.
Sammy was sitting against the wall just to the left of the door, Yasmina was leaned against the back wall with her leg propped up a few feet to Sammy's left. Darius was also leaned against the back wall a few feet away from Yaz. He sat there with forlorn look on his face looking at his hands. Sammy could tell he was thinking about Ben. Yasmina on the other hand just looked like she was resting. Her head back against the wall, eyes closed, face expressionless. It was then that she noticed the tear sliding down Yaz's right cheek, followed by one on her left.
Sammy, clueless about the war goin on inside her friends mind, wanted to reach out to her, to ask her what was wrong, but she realized how dumb of a question that was. No, better to leave Yaz alone, she had really stepped in the manure pile with that girl. Yaz had seemed to have forgiven her, however Sammy could still feel a coldness there, she had broken Yasmina's trust and was unlikely to earn it back any time soon….if at all. That thought hurt her deeply but she knew it was her own fault. The others would likely forgive and forget rather quickly, but Yaz…she was too guarded with too many walls for that.
"All right!!" Kenji exclaimed as he pulled out a case of bottled water "OH yeah, VIP for the win"
Brooklynn rolled her eyes "here we go" she murmured.
Sammy couldn't help but giggle, those two seemed to live to annoy each other. Falling back into thought, Sammy watched Kenji suck down a whole bottle without stopping. Kenji intrigued her, she could tell the arrogant, egotistical, better than you act was just that…an act. She knew there was another side he was trying to cover up with his bravado. In her experience the cockier a guy acted the more insecure he actually was. She thought for a moment, he always talked about his wealth, the things he'd done, the things he had, but never about friends or family. "Could that be it?" she wandered "could his whole act be because on the inside the VIP was….lonely?" She didn't know for sure but darn it, she was determined to find out.
Kenji grabbed four bottles out of his newly discovered treasure.
"hey cowgirl, ya thirsty?" he asked, tossing Sammy a bottle.
"Thank you sweetie pie" she giggled causing him to raise an eyebrow.
"Think fast track star" he said tossing one to Yaz.
"thanks" she growled.
"And for you fearless leader" handing one to Darius.
"thank you Kenji" he said with half hearted smile.
'"don't worry superstar, I could never forget you. No matter how hard I try" he laughed handing the last one to Brooklynn.
"Oh thank you Kenji, how can I ever express my gratitude" she teased, snatching the bottle from his hand.
He grabbed another bottle and sat down next to Darius. Darius was the only camper that treated him with respect, well Sammy too, she had always been sweet to him.
Kenji looked around the room, depression hung in the air like a thick fog. He wanted to say something funny, something random to lighten the mood, that was what Sammy usually did, but now even she was just kinda staring at her own feet. No, now wasn't the time for his jokes. He understood… they had all watched Ben die, then nearly been eaten…again. Only Darius' quick thinking saved them. And it had all been for nothing, despite their sacrifices they still didn't make it to the dock in time. Despite what Darius had said, it was getting late in the day and still no helicopters. Kenji wandered if they were even coming at all, though he certainly wouldn't say that out loud. "Gotta stay positive, don't want the girls to panic…..I'm pretty sure they can smell fear" he thought with a silent chuckle. In truth though, there was a part of Kenji that wouldn't mind if the choppers never came, the campers in that boat house were honestly probably the best friends he'd ever had, which was sad because he was pretty sure they just tolerated him and Yaz and Brooklynn could barely do that. He knew full well that when they were rescued that there was a good chance none of them would ever see each other again. He had already lost Ben. And in his mind rescue, as badly as they needed it, meant losing the others too.
Finished with her scavenging, Brooklynn finds a spot next to Darius and sits down quietly.
'Find anything?" he asked
"Not really, a couple of lighters, some fishing tackle, an air horn, oh.. and a package of three flares. Those might come in handy to signal the helicopter" she said.
"Good job Brooklynn, the lighters will be great if we need to build a fire"
Darius looked up, all eyes were on him. Then she did it, Brooklynn asked the question that he had prayed nobody would ask.
"Y..you don't think they're coming…..do you?" she asked in a small and quiet voice.
"I…um..well actually…umm…of course I do. They must have just needed time to..you know….fuel up the helicopters, put a crew together, get clearance…that kinda stuff." He smiled. Looking around he saw four sets of unconvinced eyes looking back at him. He slumped, unable to meet their eyes.
"No…I don't" he confessed.
Immediately she regretted her question, not because of the answer, but because of the stress it visibly added to Darius. Two days ago she had barely known he existed, he was just the slightly annoying Dino nerd, she had nothing against him, but also really couldn't care much less about him either.
God she had been horrible to him in the gyrosphere she thought "he was only trying to share his excitement with me….he didn't deserve my reaction at all." A pang of guilt rolled around in her stomach. "Even after that, he risked everything to get me a stupid video for my channel." Moments later things had fallen apart and they had found themselves trapped in a sinking gyrosphere, even then he hadn't blamed her. As they slipped below the surface and the mud poured in she broke down into a panic attack. She knew that in mere minutes they would be dead, shaking and sobbing he'd wrapped her in an embrace and told her it would be ok. The crazy thing was she had believed him, the hug was more than a "we're about to die hug" it was strong, it was confident, it was bold, it seemed to say "whatever happens in the next few minutes, your not alone, I will face this with you." In that moment her panic melted and her feelings for Darius changed completely, not in a romantic way at all...she didn't think anyway, but more in her respect level for him.
She now trusted him with her life and respected him as their leader, as her leader. She could see the way he carried the weight of their lives on his shoulders, wanting nothing more on earth than to make sure they each got back to their families, in return she was ready to support him in any way that she could.
Darius had been dreading this. After all they had been through, the last thing he wanted to do was cause them to lose hope, if they lost hope, they wouldn't make it.
"It's just that in any rescue situation, time matters" He began. "the first twenty four hours are critical, after that it's more likely to be a recovery than a rescue. Today is almost over and they wouldn't fly at night so if they aren't here by noon tomorrow…..then they are most likely operating with the assumption that there were no survivors." He said sadly.
"So what do we do then?" Kenji asked "If they aren't coming for us"
"We can't stay here….we need to get back to the main park. There's food and water there, also secure buildings we can sleep in, they must have communication equipment there, we might be able to get a message out, let them know we're here and alive." He continued.
Brooklynn, Kenji, and Sammy all nodded.
"What about Ben?" Yaz asked dryly.
"Ben is dead" Kenji snapped looking down.
"probably…but if we aren't waiting for rescue, and there is any Chance at all that he survived, don't we owe it to him to at least look? At least find out for sure one way or another?" she pressed.
Again all eyes were on Darius.
"It's your call" Brooklynn said softly, laying a hand on his shoulder. "either way we'll follow you."
Darius closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.
"Ok..here's the plan, if there's no rescue by morning we'll head for the park. We need to eat or we won't have the energy to survive let alone look for Ben. We have no idea where Ben fell, but the park has maps…including the monorail lines. Once we make it there and regain our strength, we can check the map and find where the monorail track splits, he should have fallen within a quarter mile of that spot. Right now we are on the southern tip of the island, the park is near the middle, it will take us all day to get there, maybe even two. Yaz, I know you wanna help him but those monorail lines go all over the park, if we just blindly follow one….we could walk ourselves to death and never get near him. I can't risk the whole team following emotions, we have to be smart or we won't make it. That's what Ben would have wanted, you know it is."
"Ok..she said, her voice softening, first we resupply then we find Ben.
"how are we gonna find the park?" Sammy asked.
"We know the park is towards the middle of the island and that we are on the southern tip, so as long as we keep heading north we should be goin in the right direction. I assume we will hit a road at some point, most roads would take us to the park complex or at least have signs every so often that would tell us where we're going" he answered.
"uuugghh…more walking?" Kenji groaned. "I've all ready walked, ran and paddled more in the last two days than the entire rest of my life combined! Plus more walking means more dinosaurs, more dinosaurs means more almost getting eaten…I'm REALLY tired of almost getting eaten Darius." He complained.
"It's a chance were gonna have to take" Darius said sternly "At that park is food, water, shelter, medical supplies, communications equipment everything we need to survive and maybe even call for help. If the power grip is still up then it would have toilets and showers and…."
"I'm in" Brooklynn interrupted excitedly
All eyes were on Brooklynn now
"what?" she snapped. "I NEED a shower, it's been two days since I've had one and I STRESS SWEAT!!" she cried "I….I'm…starting to smell myself." She added sheepishly.
The campers burst out in laughter. Embarrassed, Brooklynn pulled her legs up to her chest and hid her face in her knees.
"OK I'm totally trying to decide what Brooklynn's BO would smell like, I'm thinkin slightly sweaty cotton candy" Kenji jokes.
"Same" Yaz agrees
Brooklynn's head shot up to glare a Kenji then Yaz, Darius leaned over and sniffed her shoulder.
"Actually yeah, you guys are pretty close" he teased.
Brooklynn's head snapped over to look at him, her Jaw hanging open.
"Uuhhgg!" she cried hiding her face in her knees again. The campers all, with the exception of Brooklynn, shared another round of gut wrenching laughter.
"God, we all needed that" Darius thought still trying to catch his breath from the Brooklynn BO topic. She had taken the whole thing in good humor, perhaps she could feel everyone needed the laugh too, but he had to admit, there was a small part of him that expected her to push him out in front of the next hungry Dino for the whole sniffing thing. Honestly she didn't smell bad at all, especially not compared to himself, she at least still had the faint oder of her cotton candy body spray. He really didn't know why she was so worried about it. She was an interesting girl, a little harder to decode than the others. He felt like he had a pretty good read on his team already, he knew their strengths and weaknesses and how to motivate and hold them together when it mattered most. Kenji was actually a really nice guy, despite how much he tried to prove otherwise, he was the strongest physically and knew the park the best. He was good with engines and mechanical stuff and could probably get the communications system back online if they could get to it. On the other hand, he was cocky, lazy, rubbed everyone the wrong way at times, and worst of all had a tendency to lock up and shut down under pressure.
Yaz was like a real life super hero, exceptionally strong, could run for miles without tiring, swim farther, jump higher, and endure longer than anyone he'd ever met. She was fiercely loyal unless you broke her trust, cool headed under pressure, brave, and wouldn't hesitate to give her life for the team. Her flaws were that she was volatile, hot headed, stubborn, and her eagerness to sacrifice herself made her reckless and unpredictable.
Sammy the picture of Southern hospitality. She was sweet, overly friendly, highly energetic, and always, ALWAYS positive. She was strong as well, Knew about herd behavior, knew farm medicine, and knew the importance of keeping moral up. True the spying thing seriously damaged her trustworthiness and truthfulness, but Darius felt that everyone, except maybe Yasmina, had put themselves in her shoes and realized they would have done no different. Already Brooklynn had warmed to her, and Yaz seemed to be coming around….slowly.
Brooklynn on the other hand….he had thought he had her Figured out on the first day. Spoiled brat, superficial, selfish, obsessed with her phone, couldn't care less about others. He HATED those type of girls, that's why he was so hesitant to get in the gyrosphere with her. It hadn't taken long for her to start confirming his assumptions about her. But then she had done something he hadn't expected…she apologized..and even opened up a little about her need to be liked. Suddenly she had seemed less irritating and more like just a regular girl. She wasn't trying to be mean, she was just looking for love and acceptance, and she had found it through her YouTube channel. It actually made him feel sad for her, he wandered what her home life was like, what her story was. Then shortly after that when the gyrosphere was sinking she had completely broken down into a shaking, sobbing, snotty mess. Darius really didn't have much experience around girls, let alone how to comfort a distraught one, so he did the only thing he could think of. He hugged her. He was afraid she would get the wrong idea, but it actually seemed to calm her down. Since then she had been pretty cool with him, it felt good to have her as a friend.
Day had given way to dusk and the campers were quickly running out of light in the boat house. The mood was still somber, but was beginning to ease a bit with the knowledge that tomorrow they would either be rescued, or they'd be moving out. The hours of sitting and waiting was getting to them, they had too much time to think and dwell on the events and horrors of the past days.
"Alright gang, we got a lot of ground to cover tomorrow so sleep as much and as long as ya can"
"If I can" Yasmina sighed.
Brooklynn looked over at her, she knew what she meant, it was hard not to see Ben's face when they closed their eyes.
"It wasn't your fault" she said softly.
"Humph! Right." Yaz scoffed, turning away.
Brooklynn sighed, again she understood.
"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm taking the water bed tonight" Kenji bragged climbing down into the zodiac, resting his head on the pontoon and his feet up on the seat.
"Ahhhh" he said stretching and locking his fingers behind his head. "Now to let the ocean rock me to sleep."
"Oh lord, nighty night VIP" Sammy chuckled curling up between Yaz and Brooklynn.
"Hey, you need your sleep too" Darius said nudging Brooklynn
"Yeah, I know. I'll try" she said dropping her face back to her knees.
"Ok good, I'm gonna need all of you alert tomorrow." He said leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes.
The last of the light slowly faded out, leaving the campers in total darkness. After about twenty minutes, the silence was broken by the sound of vomiting. Brooklynn chuckled to herself listening to about five minutes straight of retching and heaving, followed by the sound of someone climbing onto the dock, and eventually crawling up next to Sammy.
"Seasick Mr. VIP?" Brooklynn teased.
"shut up superstar" Kenji grumbled back.
She laughed to herself again and closed her eyes, soon sheq drifted off, becoming the last member of the group to finally sleep.
Boom….Darius' eyes flutter open. Moonlight was pouring through the windows of the boat house, he guessed it was around three A.M. In the dim light he could make out his friends sleeping. Yaz was in the same position she had been in all day, back against the wall with her ankle up on life jackets. Kenji had apparently abandoned ship at some point and was now using Sammy as a pillow, she had thrown an arm across his chest in her sleep, it was actually pretty cute. Brooklynn was still about a foot to his right, with her back against the wall like him, she was snoring lightly.
"Thank God, they are all ok he thought." Since Ben's loss he had been paranoid that he would get someone else killed.
Boom…Darius snaps to attention. Boom…
"Oh no.." he whispered to himself.
Boom…..boom….boom….boom.
Brooklynn started to stir, he threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her up against him, cupping his other hand over her mouth.
"Mmmpph hmmph" she struggled against him, unaware of who it was.
"Shhhhhhhhhh" he whispered in her ear. She went still and silent.
Boom…boom…boom...boom.
"What is it?" she squeaked.
"I don't know…something big" he whispered. Whatever it was was definitely coming closer, the building now shaking with each step. He looked over at Yaz, her eyes were wide staring straight into his, he could see her chest rise and fall with heavy breathing. The look on her face said she knew that if they were discovered, she wouldn't have a chance. It was standing just outside the building, they could hear it breathing.
"Why did it stop?" Darius thought, "It should have kept moving" the dinosaur started sniffing.
"Oh God, it knows were in here" he thought. The dinosaur growled. Brooklynn whimpered and pushed her face tighter into Darius' shoulder, in turn he gripped her shoulder tighter, in an attempt to reassure her. Yaz had slowed her breathing, taking deep slow breaths readying herself to do the unthinkable if need be. The square of Moonlight on the ground in front of them from the window, suddenly showed the shadow of a huge toothy snout. It got closer and closer until the light from the moon completely disappeared.
"It's looking through the windows" the thought, unwilling to say it out loud. He glanced over to Yaz, she was on her feet , crouched in the shadow, staring at the doorknob.
"Yaz" he whispered "no!" She looked back at him with a mixture of fear, sadness, and determination in her eyes.
"I'm sorry" she mouthed. As she reached for the door.
Just as her fingers touched the door, the light returned to the window.
Boom..boom…boom….boom. As quickly as it had came , it left. Yaz collapsed in relief, Brooklynn looked up.
"It's leaving" she whispered in disbelief, "it didn't find us"
"Yeah, we're safe now" Darius lied, he knew it had smelled them. Now they had no choice, they had to move, whatever that was would likely come back tomorrow night and they had to be gone when it did. Looking over at Yaz, he could see she knew it too.
"Hey" Yaz whispered, "you and pinky get some sleep, you've got a long day ahead of ya. I'll keep watch, if it comes back, I'll wake you."
"Thank you Yaz" he whispered back to her.
It was a good feeling to have Yaz in his corner, she naturally knew what needed to be done without needing to be told and he knew he could count on her to have his back. With her keeping watch, he wasn't afraid to sleep. He looked around at his team one more time. Yaz was getting her ankle back on her makeshift pillow, Kenji and Sammy hadn't moved an inch, Brooklynn was clinging to his side.
"Its ok now Brooklynn, it's ok" he whispered in her ear, patting her hand. Again he thanked God they were safe and prayed that he would keep them safe on the trip to the park in the morning. Darius' eyes grew heavy as the adrenaline wore off. Brooklynn had finally laid her head on his shoulder and drifted off, again ever so lightly snoring. Taking comfort in her presence, and in the fact Yaz was watching over them, he lowered his head, resting his cheek on the top of Brooklynn's head, and slept.
The sound of something walking on their tin roof startled Darius awake, it was morning now, probably around eight, his wide eyes darted to Yasmina, who was wide awake watching him.
"seagull" she said quietly.
"Oh thank God" he sighed, looking down at the pink head on his shoulder. But something was wrong, why was her hair wet?
"Oh no, no no no" he thought, "I drooled all over her head, how the heck do I fix this before she wakes up" he panicked. To his horror Brooklynn raised her head and yawned. She scooched away from him and stretched.
"Good morning" she smiled. Her smile faded as she touched her wet matted hair, then looked at her hand in confusion. Darius wished Toro was around so he could climb into her mouth. Fire flashed in Brooklynn's eyes.
"Wait…did you…." She trailed off noticing the large wet spot on Darius' shirt right where her mouth had been.
"Never mind" she croaked, wanting nothing more than to just die right then and there. The two of them stared at their shoes in silence, mortally embarrassed. The silence was broken by Yaz bursting into uncontrollable laughter.
"You guys seriously drooled all over each other?" Yasmina squealed "that is soo gross"
Darius looked down at his shirt.
"It'll dry" he said sheepishly
"Yeah" Brooklynn agreed, touching her hair again.
Yaz's laughter woke Sammy and Kenji, at the same time Sammy looked at Kenji's head on her stomach as Kenji looked at Sammy's arm across his chest.
"what the…" Kenji asked confused
"HI there" Sammy giggled "get tired of your water bed?"
Brooklynn stifled a laugh as Kenji glared at her.
"Something like that" he yawned.
"Not to freak you guys out" Darius started, getting right to the point. "But we had a visitor last night"
"What kind of visitor?" Sammy asked
"The twenty foot tall and hungry kind" he answered, "it can smell us, it knows we're around just not sure where." "the point is, it will be back, and it would be best if we weren't here." Kenji Sat up and stretched.
"What about rescue?" he asked. "If we're hiking through the jungle, they might not see us".
Darius thought for a moment.
"I don't think they're coming Kenji." He said sadly. "they would have been here by now"
The campers were quiet for a few moments.
"Whatever that thing was….it probably smelled Kenji" Yaz poked, drawing laughter from everyone.
The group got up and moving around, preparing themselves mentally for the danger ahead. Brooklynn was stuffing her scavenging finds into her pockets, Kenji was staring at the zodiac, Sammy was giving the cabinets another going over, Yaz was inspecting her ankle, and Darius was pacing back and fourth.
"How's the ankle" he asked.
"Tender, but the swelling is gone, couple days and I should be good" she answered.
"good I'm glad to hear it, I wish we had more time for you to heal up before we had to do this" he said sympathetically.
"Not an option" she added
"Hey, shouldn't a nasty sprain like that take a few weeks?" Sammy asked.
"I'm a fast healer" she responded dryly.
"Kenji, you know how to run that thing?" Darius asked, nodding toward the zodiac.
"Yeah, my dad has a few, used to take them out pretty often but now I just stay on the yacht. We only use them when we wanna land on an island or something." He responded.
"that's cool, what about using that to get us closer to the park? Would that work?" Darius asked.
"Nah, I already thought about that, not a fan of the walking idea, it's only got about a quarter tank of fuel in it, that won't get us far, especially with five of us, it's really only good for a couple people." Kenji explained.
"Darn" Darius said disappointed. "Hey there were a couple barrels down by the end of the dock, they might be fuel"
"Hey its worth a shot, wanna go check em out" Kenji suggested.
"Lead the way Mr. VIP" Darius laughed.
Sammy watched through the window as the boys headed to the end of the dock.
"Alright ladies they're gone, if anyone needs to go to the bathroom, now would be a good time." All three girls disappeared around the opposite side of the building.
"Bingo" Kenji exclaimed, pumping his first. "there's at least 25 gallons in here" one of the barrels at the end of the dock had been motor oil, but the other was gasoline.
"ummm Kenji?" Darius said, his voice barley a whisper. "I don't think we're gonna have time to use it"
Kenji looked where Darius was staring and went numb. Down at beach, a little ways from the dock stood an enormous dinosaur with a huge mouth full of teeth and a sail on its back. It was staring directly at them.
"That's a spinosaurus" Darius whispered,
"Run?" Kenji asked
"Run" Darius agreed. They turned and ran as the dinosaur roared and started after them. Back at the boat house, the girls were just coming back in when they heard the roar. Brooklynn, Yaz, and Sammy exchanged looks of terror and dread. All three of them rushed to the window at once. Kenji and Darius were sprinting towards them at full speed, a huge dinosaur in pursuit, it was a way off still but definitely closing the gap.
"It's OK, they'll make it" Sammy blurted excitedly.
Yaz shot her a death glare.
"And then what, this building is tin foil to that thing, NONE of us are gonna make it" she hissed.
"What's he saying?" Brooklynn asked.
They could see Darius screaming something at them, motioning for them to go, but go where, they couldn't hear him.
"Boat?" Yaz whispered in confusion. "BOAT!" She yelled, "he wants us on the boat. Come on, let's go, let's, go, let's go" the girls clambered down into the zodiac, hearts beating out of their chests as they listened to the giant footsteps drawing nearer.
"I think they got it" Darius panted, " I'll get the rope, you get us out of here"
"Got it" Kenji panted back. They bust through the boat house door at the same time, Darius diving for the stern line that was tied to the dock, and Kenji jumping from the dock to the wheel, he pulled the choke knob and twisted the key. The engine turned, sputtered, and died.
"What's wrong" Darius shouted, dropping into the boat. Kenji tried again with the same result. Panicking he tried a third time, the engine turned but wouldn't fire.
"It won't start" Kenji cried, his voice cracking under the stress. The spinosaurus crashed through the wall and roared at them. Brooklynn and Sammy screamed, Yaz locked eyes with the dinosaur defiantly.
"KENJI!" Darius yelled.
Kenji wanted to cry. His friends, his only friends, were all about to die, all because he couldn't get the stupid boat to start. The smell of raw fuel drifted to his nostrils.
"Wait!, it's flooded" he thought. Kenji jerked the throttle wide open and turned the key. The engine turned, fired, and chugged black smoke before smoothing out.
"YES, thank you, thank you, thank you" he sighed as the boat started to pull away from the dock, the spinosaurus charged and lunged at them as it reached the end of the dock.
As the boat pulled away picking up speed the campers let out a cheer.
"We made it" Yaz laughed before being violently jerked backwards. Suddenly she was twenty feet above the water, watching her friends horrified faces getting smaller. Time slowed down, her brain processed that she was in the dinosaurs jaws, or at least the back of her jacket was. A feeling of calm rushed over her, this was it, she had finally atoned for Ben's death with her own. At least her friends would get away while the spino was busy with her. Movement beneath her caught her eye, it was the boats stern line snaking through the water, stretching fifty feet behind. Hope flashed through her, her mind switched gears, even though it was her fault he was dead, Ben would never want this, he would want her survive and help the others. She jerked her zipper down and thrust her arms up and back, and then she was falling, the ocean swallowed her into another world. All was at peace, there was no sound, her body relaxed. It reminded her of how she felt when she ran, the peacefulness, all her cares disappearing, she wanted to stay in that moment forever. Her eyes opened and she saw the rope sliding through the water above her. She stretched out her hand and kicked with her feet, she felt the rope contact her palm and in one motion she closed her fingers and twisted. There was a blinding light and a popping, crunching, and tearing sound as pain overwhelmed her, it took her breath away, she saw the water turn red, and then she was moving. Yaz was aware she was being dragged but not by what, everything was a blur. Finally her head broke the surface and she saw the dock with the spinosaurus roaring in frustration getting further and further away. She could hear the engine of the boat at full throttle as well as her friends cheering. "I can't believe that worked" she thought.
"Slow down Kenji, stop. We gotta get her in the boat" Sammy yelled. Now a good five hundred yards from the dock, Kenji pushed the throttle to idle. Sammy, Brooklynn, and Darius frantically pulled Yaz toward the boat.
"Cutting it a bit close aren't we?" Kenji laughed as Brooklynn and Sammy grabbed Yaz's arms to pull her in. Yaz screamed in pain as she flopped into the boat. Darius' eyes went wide. Yasmina's shoulder was horribly dislocated if not broken in several places and the flesh of her forearm had been ripped all the way around and down to her wrist from where the rope was wrapped around it.
"YAZ!" Sammy cried "your arm"
"I'm fine" Yaz snapped, her wound spewing blood into the boat.
"Oh my god" Brooklynn cried in shock.
"We have to stop this bleeding" Sammy yelled
"Umm Darius?" Kenji asked with concern "where did the spino…whatever you called it go?"
Darius looked, it was no longer on the dock, a grim realization took hold.
"Kenji, go NOW!!" he shouted.
"But.." Kenji started a bit confused, then he saw it. Half way between them and the dock, he saw the spino's sail slicing through the water like a sharks fin. Kenji jerked the throttle lever wide open.
"It SWIMS?" he shrieked "why does it swim? Of freaking course it swims, why wouldn't it, It probably flies too."
"Its catching up!" Brooklynn cried.
"Of course it's catching up, cause that's how this works, every time we think we're safe it's right back to almost getting eaten! GAHHH!!" Kenji ranted. Steadily the dinosaur was closing the distance, occasionally its head would break the surface, getting a bearing on its prey.
"Kenji, can't this thing go any faster?" Sammy yelled.
"I'm giving it all its got" he shouted back helplessly. The spino closed in to biting distance, rearing out of the water it snapped at the campers, bringing screams from the girls.
"Must go faster" Yaz shouted, "must go faster." The predator lunged again, nearly decapitating Sammy. Crouching next to Yaz, Brooklynn suddenly had an idea. She slowly stood up in the speeding boat and pulled one of the flares she had found in the boat house out of her pocket.
The spinosaurus erupted from the water again and roared, Yasmina's jacket still stuck in its teeth. It's eyes locked on the standing girl as it lunged.
"EAT THIS" Brooklynn screamed in a moment of courage as she fired the flare. Burning red phosphorus embedded itself in the dinosaur's palette. The beast snapped its jaws shut, shook its head and submerged. Brooklynn stood there in disbelief at what she had just done. Darius, Sammy, Kenji, and even Yaz stared at her in shock. Brooklynn collapsed as hands patted her on the back.
"Oh crap, Yaz!" she cried turning her attention back to the profusely bleeding girl.
"Just keep following the coast, we'll go as far as we can" Darius said, slapping Kenji on the shoulder.
"How is she" he asked Sammy.
"She's losing a lot of blood" she answered, deep concern in her voice. "We need a tourniquet"
Brooklynn grabbed her jacket sleeve and jerked with all her might, it tore clean off at the shoulder seam.
"Here" she said, handing it to Sammy who immediately tied it around Yaz's upper arm.
Around twenty minutes passed,
"Hey superstar" Yaz said. "that was awesome " she smiled. Since watching Brooklynn take on the spino, a feeling of respect started growing for her, maybe she wasn't as shallow as she had seemed.
The engine started to sputter, and then died. Kenji tried to restart it but it was no use.
"That's it, fuels gone, we're dead in the water." He said solemnly.
"Darius" Sammy said softly "Yaz really needs to….
"I know, I know" he cut her off. A little over seventy two hours ago they were all safe and happy waking up for another day of camp. He looked down at his team, Kenji's forehead was resting on the steering wheel, Yaz was cradled in Brooklynn's lap, the pink haired girl stroking Yaz's hair, Sammy was tightening her tourniquet. Yasmina lay still, shoulder disfigured, torn flesh hanging from her wrist. The bottom of the boat was awash in blood. Yaz locked eyes with him, there was no blame in her eyes for him. Darius' eyes began to well up. They were adrift somewhere off the east coast of Isla nublar, one of his team members was dead, another seriously injured, they needed a doctor that would never come, and they were assumed dead.
"Some leader I'm turning out to be" he thought.
"So what do we do now? Brooklynn asked softly. Darius was on the verge of tears, if he had known what to do, Ben would still be alive, if he had known what to do they would have made it to the ferries, if he had known what to do they wouldn't be ankle deep in seawater and blood.
Yasmina reached up and took him by the hand.
"You didn't do this Darius, this isn't your fault" she said weakly, reading his eyes. She was starting to shiver. Brooklynn pulled off what was left of her jacket and wrapped it around the athletes shoulders, shooting Darius a worried glance.
"Get your head in the game Darius, they're counting on you" he thought.
"Hey, what the…it looks like an old dock over there." Kenji said pointing to shore.
"I didn't know there was dock on this side of the island" Darius replied.
"Me either" Kenji agreed
"Guys, there might be supplies!" Sammy added
"Way ahead of ya" Kenji said, taking a paddel and handing another to Darius. "Let's get to that dock".