Wind whipped violently past Brooklynn's face. Her eyes stinging and watering profusely as she struggled to keep them open. In the moments she had to think since leaping from the moving train the girl knew she had overcorrected her fall. Shock and fear hit her gut with the cold rush of half melted ice. In stark clarity she knew she had no way to save herself. Time slowed down. Then, in that brief space between one second and the next her mind fled away, conjuring images of a simpler time when leaping had been just as terrifying, but oh so thrilling.
It was the high dive at the public pool, she'd been seven, clad in a lavender suit and tutu. She remembered her mom and dad waiting in the water below cheering her on. She'd been scared, her arms and legs covered in goosebumps as the wind stole the warmth from her body, teeth chattering. People were shouting at her to hurry up, the lifeguard kept blowing her whistle motioning Brooklynn down one way or the other. A little boy called up to her from the ladder dubbing her a "baby." Finally, Brooklynn had just gone for it. It had been her first big adventure and major surge of adrenaline. The girl who jumped again and again that day couldn't ever get enough of the rush, or so she'd thought.
Blinking reality came flooding back. This time it wasn't refreshing blue water rushing up to meet her, but rather the cold hard a ground, and she was going to hit it face first. Brooklynn's thoughts were disjointed as she tried to command her body to move, to react, to do something. Her hands came up just in time to shield her face. Brooklynn hit the dirt, and knew immediately that something was wrong. Tucking her arms protectively into her chest she rolled with the impact, gravity carrying her down hill, rocks and twigs battering her along the way. The dull browns and greens of the jungle at night blurred dizzyingly with the blacks and blues of the starlit heavens. Over and over she tumbled until she hit something she recognized as a someone and stopped.
Laying with her forehead pressed into the cool dirt Brooklynn struggled to regain her breath, the whole world still reeling all about her. The only fragment of reality that kept her disoriented mind tethered was the innate knowledge that there was something, very, very wrong with her arms. That, and the memory of sheer horror on Ben's face just before- A sob left the girl, followed by another, tears leaving dirty streaks on her face as dust and dirt clung to the moisture. Pull yourself together, she commanded, you're not out of the woods yet, pull yourself together!
Sitting up after a minute the girl stared down at her appendages as they rested in her lap, and her heart skipped a beat. They were bent. Not at an extreme angle, but there was a noticable curve on the side of each wrist, her hands pointing outwards by degrees. In shock Brooklynn gawked wide eyed before trying and succeeding to wiggle her fingers. It didn't hurt so much as it was sore, and there was an intense amount of pressure, like someone was squeezing hold of her arms.
"You alright?" Darius groaned from where he lay beside her. The boy didn't try to get up, instead he stared blanky at the sky, the listlessness in his gaze, swollen from where Kenji had punched him, knotted Brooklynn's stomach.
"Yeah," she murmured opening and closing her hands, testing the motion. It felt like all her strength was gone, but at least her hands still worked. "I think so. Are you-"
"Kenji? Kenji!" it was Sammy, she was screaming. Turning Brooklynn scanned the area for her in the pitch, just able to make her out on the half light rocking the unconscious boy's body, Brooklynn's blood went cold. "Oh God, he's not breathing! Guys Kenji's not breathing!" Sammy wailed looking up in terror, a steady stream of blood flowing from her reopened head wound.
Brooklynn was on her feet in a second, heartbeat rapid, head light. Racing over to kneel down by the oldest camper she swept a numb hand over Kenji's face.
"Kenji?" she asked, fear and panic rising within. He didn't respond. The hairs raising on the back of her neck Brooklynn felt like spiders were crawling all over her as she failed to make out any signs of life. No! She thought, fresh tears slipping from her eyes as she stared down at the boy. No, no, no, no! With a strangled scream Brooklynn slapped the lifeless body across the face. Pain and immediate remorse erupted within Brooklynn, causing her to double over with a whimper, head on the boy's stomach.
"Come on you asshole!" Yasmina shouted, dragging her leg as she limped over to the others. "Breathe!"
Attracted by their noise Bumpy waddled towards them from the dense foliage they had landed in calling in the loud forlorn way she had been just before they jumped. "Not now!" Yasmina grit, prying one of Kenji's eyes open, and blowing air into it hard. There was no reaction, no automated reflex to close his eye. At this revelation everything seemed to be happening all at once as hysteria began to set in.
"No!" Brooklynn wailed.
"Breathe!" Yaz commanded again, shaking Kenji roughly. "Breathe!"
"Does anyone know CPR?" Sammy shrieked, hands flapping infront of her face as she tried fanning herself in panic for more air. She's going to faint, Brooklynn thought glancing up briefly at the hyperventilating girl.
Hush in the wake of so desperate and so simple a question gave her, her answer, yet still one by one he kids all responded with a solemn. "No."
"How hard can it be?" Yasmina sneered after a minute. Pushing the others aside and ignoring her pain the athlete tried to position herself over Kenji, her face hard set with a fortitude all her own, hands finding his sternum.
"I bet Ben knew CPR..." Darius murmured distantly, lingering at the edge of their group after walking to where they sat.
With a shudder Kenji took a breath, followed by another, let out a hoarse cough, and his respiration fell into a shallow, but noticable rhythm. Sammy crumpled to the soil overcome with the same relief that everyone else felt. Brooklynn smiled at her, cautiously taking her trembling hand. Everyone slumped in the dirt, enjoying this reprieve from death while they could, relishing the labored sounds of Kenji's breathing. It was hard, and sounded painful, but at least he was still with them.
"He's ok," Sammy whispered. "He's going to be ok."
"For now." Darius uttered, his voice nearly drowned out by the baying of the baby ankylosaurus who stormed about tail thrashing angrily.
Brooklynn turned to him with a blend of anger and worry, the former slowly giving way to the latter. She pressed her lips together, but couldn't think of anything to say. It wasn't his fault, none of this was his fault, but the girl knew far too well that telling him that wouldn't change how he felt.
"What about Ben?" Sammy asked, again the first to break the silence. "I mean we have to at least look for him right?"
"He's dead Sammy." Yaz snapped, a shudder ran down her spine as she hugged herself, seemingly cold in spite of the oversized hoodie.
"We don't know that!" Sammy argued, her voice a pinched whine as she struggled to grasp at the last threads of hope she could find. "We made it didn't we?"
"We jumped at a dip in the track, on a slope." Yasmina retorted. "Ben fucking fell. Straight down. Far and hard."
"But we're alright so that means-"
"The pterosaurs." Darius mumbled, still standing apart from the rest.
"But," Sammy tried again reluctant to face the reality of their situation head on. Looking at her Brooklynn felt her eyes beginning to well again. "But he could be..."
In the space that followed the only sound that could be heard was Bumpy's aggravated grumbling as she paced about the little clearing, her tail battling ferns, and saplings in her anger. She circled, called out, Brooklynn assumed for Ben, and circled and called again before making her rounds to nudge and rub against each of the campers with a whimper. When no one got up she repeated the process.
"He's gone Bumpy." Brooklynn said gently, cupping the animal's face in her hands when Bumpy had come to her. "Ben's gone."
"Brooklynn!" Sammy gasped at the same time Bumpy let out a bellow as though she understood and resented what the pink haired girl had said.
"It, it's does really hurt so much as..." Brooklynn trailed off following the other girls gaze down to her arms which had begun to collect fluid. She found herself vaguely unable to find the right words to explain what exactly it did feel like, if not painful and smiled awkwardly. "I'm sure it will though when the adrenaline wears off..."
"Are they broken?" the cowgirl asked, wiping the blood from her brow with the back of her hand before inching towards Brooklynn and palpitating her wrists.
"I don't think so-" Brooklynn's body gave a jump, brightly colored orbs floating through her vision, a shooting pain electrified both arms. Sammy apologized.
"Will someone shut her up?" Yasmina asked after a minute, tossing a pebble in Bumpy's direction. "She's going to get us all killed!"
Brooklynn looked at the little animal who didn't seem content with idling around much longer and began ambling away into the underbrush. Darius scrambled to stop her. "Shh Bumpy it's ok, we've got you." he said smiling to her, she pressed forward, trying to break free of his tenuous grip. "No, stay with us!" Darius argued digging in with his feet.
"Come on Bumpster," Sammy crooned trying to ply the dinosaur with tasty tidbits from a nearby tree. "We gotta stick together girl."
Bumpy honked loudly, turning to face them as she backed away, letting out little chuffs, turning up dirt underfoot as she did.
"No, no, no!" Darius hissed, clamouring to find a way to pin the animal down which only incited her rage even more. "Please!" he begged starting to cry, cheek pressed against her well armored back. "Please we can't lose you too, please! Please!"
Without much thought they all grabbed onto Bumpy in an attempt to get her to stay. Bellowing and trashing around the ankylosaur had a fit, tail aimed at shins she heaved and fought with everything in her to get away, fear coming to her calls as well was anger and loss.
"Ow!" Yasmina cried out pulling away to inspect her hand where deep red impressions had been left by Bumpy's flat square teeth. "Just let her go!"
"No!" Darius cried, but already the battle was lost, the dinosaur gave one final lurch forward and broke free racing away into the night calling loudly for her fallen parent.
Darius started gasping for air, his good hand pressed tight against his chest, his eyes glistened with sorrow in the moonlight. "Darius?" Brooklynn asked standing to try and offer him some sort of comfort. She'd seen breakdowns before, in the hospital, and as he stood watching in bitter sadness one second, jumping up and down, a pent scream coming from between his teeth, good hand pulling at his hair the next, he seemed to be on the verge of one.
"She's alright this jungle is her home!" Sammy said with a forced smile, trying to be of cheer when all Brooklynn could think to do was hug the boy around the waist, mindful of his shoulder.
"Hey!" Yaz called to them swallowing past a lump of emotion caught in her throat, though it could still heard in her voice. She had retreated to their fallen leader, and had his shirt up as though she was trying to remember what the bruising had looked like earlier, as if that would help diagnose the problem. "The only thing we should be worrying about is getting to that boat!"
The boat.
Brooklynn's stomach did a summersault. How could she have forgotten about the boat? Her head turning from side to side that persistent feeling of impending doom, and sense of urgency flooded throughout the influencer's body. Arryhthmia stole its way into the girl's chest.
"We have to go!" Brooklynn said in pressing tone.
"What about Ben?" Sammy pleaded.
"We can't go back for Ben!" Brooklynn snapped. "Ben's gone."
"Yeah, and what about Kenji?" Yaz added in a fierce tone. "Get your head out of the fucking clouds."
"And Bumpy..." Darius wheezed between tears.
"You're all insane!" Yasmina shouted. "Ben's gone, Bumpy's an animal, Kenji is right here, and he's hurt we need to do something about that first. We need to get to the boat!"
"Yaz is right." Brooklynn said forlorn. "We have to keep moving."
Encircled by her arms Brooklynn felt Darius trembling, but he shook himself soundly out of it. She looked and saw his brows were pulled together, his tears had stopped, and his jaw was set rigidly. "We're not going to make it if we keep going like this." he announced, the grim maturity in his tone seemed to have aged him by a decade at least.
"Yasmina, are you still good to walk?" he asked pulling away from Brooklynn.
"I'd say I'm highly motivated, yes." the girl agreed as she stood.
"Sammy, you can fix my shoulder again?"
"I can try." the cowgirl winced. "If you keep banging it up though-"
"Just fix it. We have to go."
Hanging back Brooklynn, who was aware of a sharp stinging sensation in her stomach wrapped her arms around herself loosely. She watched as Darius pushed everything away, burying it all deep, deep down inside. This wasn't good the girl thought to herself as she watched Sammy prepping to realign his dislocated joint, but there wasn't much she could do to help. So she chose to watch, and wait, and be there for him when she could. Because it was coming, rolling in like a thunderstorm, she could tell.
Just as with the last time, there was a loud, wet pop, a cry, and Darius sank to the ground with the anguish of it. He came to quickly enough, tested his arm, and after a few steadying breaths stood resolute.
"There's no way we're going to make it stumbling through the jungle in the middle of the night." he declared, deflating the others a bit. "But when we went to see Toro Kenji led us through these tunnels under the park. Flat, even terrain and it's got to have a direct route to the docks."
"That's a great idea!" Sammy nodded.
"Yaz," Darius said looking her up and down, Brooklynn couldn't help but follow suit. The girl's entire leg had ballooned, and was turning a sickening shade of purplish grey, how she was even standing was beyond Brooklynn, highly motivated indeed. "You can lean on my right side that should help, right?"
"Should." she grit hobbling towards him, and looping her arm around his neck.
"Sammy, Brooklynn-"
"We got 'im." Sammy assured heaving Kenji up with a considerable amount of strength that reminded Brooklynn that 'cowgirl' wasn't just a nickname. The pink haired girl fished Ben's torn fanny pack from the ground and stuffed it into the side pocket of Kenji's cargo shorts, before hurrying to steady him on the other side.
The shabby group set off at a shuffle, only the promise of salvation keeping them going.
Kenji was heavy, Brooklynn thought after a while, his head flopping around limply on his neck in a way that frightened her. What if there was something really, really wrong? She fretted as Sammy gave a massive heave to pull the boy's dangling feet over an upturned tree root. What if even after all of this and they got off the island he didn't get better? What if he was in a coma? What if he was going to die?
"Everything's going to be alright." Darius called confidently to the group from where he and Yasmina lead the way. Brooklynn stared at his back for a long moment, it was like he'd read her mind, but he hadn't even turned around. Maybe he was just talking to himself, she thought, voicing it aloud so that it would help everyone. Still, his gentle reassurance helped ease her feverishly anxious mind, as she labored under the dead weight of Kenji Kon.
After a few minutes Darius seemed to find what he was looking for, a boulder with the Jurassic World logo emblazoned upon it. "This is it." he announced, lifting the stone effortlessly to reveal a maintenance hatch, red light spilled up from the ground casting an ominous glow over the campers faces. Darius who appeared caught of guard for a moment climbed in readily, followed soon after by Yaz.
"So," Brooklynn asked in nervous concern. "How are we doing this?"
The Texan chewed on her lower lip in contemplation for a few minutes before she eased Kenji to the leaf litter. "I'll go down first," she announced mounting the ladder. "You just have to roll him towards me, and I'll catch."
"Are you sure?" Brooklynn asked tentatively, she couldn't quite tell how far down the tunnel was, and if Sammy dropped him- Brooklynn didn't even want to think about what could go wrong.
"Positive." Sammy nodded slowly disappearing below ground. "Just send him down feet first." Left alone Brooklynn felt the fear of her isolation, and couldn't help but glance about in trepidation at the swallowing darkness all around.
Nervously she touched the source of pain in her stomach, the moisture clinging to her shirt around the port burned. It hadn't just been her wrists that had been affected by the leap of faith. She wanted to take a minute, to lift her shirt and get a really good look at the damage, wincing as acid and enzymes beaded to the surface of her skin, but a minute was something they didn't have. Stooping down the girl maneuvered Kenji towards the manhole, pushing him in feet first as she'd been instructed. That was when the teen realized that they'd lost one of his shoes, she turned back stupidly, as though expected to find it, but saw nothing in the dark.
Her breath stealing away in a gasp as Kenji's body slid unexpectedly into the hole after she had gotten his legs in Brooklynn rushed to peer down after him. Sammy gave a tentative smile and a thumbs up, having just caught him by the armpits. "Got him!"
Relieved Brooklynn was the last one to file down the ladder, descending into a room luminous with monochromatically red warning lights. The tunnels seemed to stretch forever in either direction from where the campers stood.
"Which way?" Brooklynn asked.
"Well," Darius sighed. "The docks are to the South, so, let's head south and see what happens." he smiled then, but it wasn't the warm energetic expression Brooklynn was familar with, it was worn, it was tired, it was pained.
Gravely the kids trekked forward in silence, the lighting, and persistent echo of their own footsteps adding an invasive sense of eerie malease to the atmosphere. After a few minutes Kenji groaned startling everyone, then he moved, trying to pull his head up. Stopping the girls sat him on the ground, his back propped against the cool metal and concrete of the man-made tunnel. After a moment or two he lifted his head, and looked around himself with confused disorientation.
"Where are we?" he asked, his voice a thick croak.
"We're in the tunnels, trying to get to the docks." Brooklynn explained crouching beside him. "How do you feel?"
Kenji blinked with a dull understanding of what she had just said. "Like shit."
They watched as the boy pat himself down, cautious of his chest as he took stock of his injuries. That was when he found the pack, holding it in his hand Kenji looked at it for a time, his expression betraying none of his thoughts, before returning it to where he'd found it. "Where's Bumpy?" he asked them.
"She ra-" Yasmina started in, but Brooklynn, trying to help divert what she was sure would be more blame from falling onto Darius who already had too much to deal with cut her off.
"We don't know, she wasn't there when we were getting up." she said eyes darting to each of the others praying they'd back her up. "It's like she was there one minute, gone the next."
Darius seemed ready to contradict her when Sammy doubled down on the lie. "Yeah, she just wasn't there. She must have gotten scared and run off or something."
"I dropped her too then." Kenji muttered, and Brooklynn regretted her deception instantly.
"You didn't drop Ben." Darius said.
"Don't!" Kenji shouted before the act sent him into a coughing fit, one that caused him to tense up in agony. "You don't get to say his name!"
Everyone stood in fresh mourning before Yasmina shuffled her weight about, still leaning heavily on Darius, and spoke in a strained voice. "We have to keep moving. I know, I'm a bitch, but we can't keep stopping every five seconds. Please!" she begged. "I really don't want to die here."
"I think I might know where we are." Kenji murmured after a second of observation, accepting the other girls help up.
With Kenji doing his best to direct them the group seemed to be making some headway. They even procured an electric prod from one of the lockers for Yasmina to use as a walking stick, and an old tee-shirt that was quickly shredded and made into bandages for Sammy's head, and a better sling for Darius' shoulder.
Then they were met with metal bars.
They tried weaving through side tunnels, backtracking, and circling around feeling like rats trapped in a maze as every avenue that they walked past was an avenue replaced by locked gates.
"Where do we go now?" Darius asked after a while, letting Yasmina slump against a wall. She sagged immediately to the floor holding onto her leg.
"I don't know Darius, coming down here was your idea! Just back the fuck off!" Kenji bit out, his voice ringing in Brooklynn's ear as she helped lower him beside the athlete.
It looked like a fight was about to break out when Sammy swept some hair over her ear, glancing behind herself with unease. "Um Kenji, Darius, the way that we came in from, where does that tunnel end?"
"I don't know, it opens up somewhere into the park, why?" Kenji snapped.
That was when they heard a hiss, separate and distinct from the rattle and whistle of the pipes that surrounded them. The children turned to see a toothy shadow cast against the wall in the flickering red light. Brooklynn's heart started racing instantly, Kenji and Yasmina scooted along the floor pressing themselves tighter against the bend in the wall hoping to conceal themselves, Sammy snatched up the cattle prod letting it flicker and crackle to life. Head light with fear Brooklynn couldn't resist peaking as everyone hid.
Then darting from the other end of the passage a little green compsognathus breathing hard ran around the corner, beside her Darius heaved a sigh of relief. "It's just a comp-"
His words were cut short when a larger therapod took the bend after the little animal, it's well armed feet skidding it was accompanied by a hunting companion. Brooklynn closed her eyes when the first of the two larger dinosaurs snatched the compy up in it's jaws. There was a terrible screaming, the crush of bone, and then only pleased snorting and grunting from the victorious predators. Opening her eyes Brooklynn found herself staring Darius in the face, their shared terror when confronted with mortality once again a hollow comfort, just as it had been in the gyrosphere.
"Velociraptors." Darius whispered, giving a name to the death that stalked towards them with long claws that rapped irritably on the floor.
"What do we do?" Sammy whispered, clutching her weapon as the sound of the dinosaurs grew nearer.
No one wanted to say it, but Brooklynn found herself staring at the incapacitated members of their party where they sat winded and hurting, vulnerable, and unable to help themselves. Yaz and Kenji were sitting ducks. They seemed to sense this as their hands found each other in a gruesome form of solidarity, they were mentally preparing to die. Brooklynn, a fire in her chest couldn't accept their unspoken answer, couldn't accept that they were going to give up so easily, especially not when they were so damned close and started looking for something, anything with which to distract or hurt the velociraptors before their impending arrival.
Her gaze trailing the pipes Brooklynn found several valves, and handles imbedded in the wall. Frantically she began turning them at random, ignoring the mounting pressure and discomfort in her forearms as she twisted her wrists in ways they protested angrily against. Water and steam could be heard rushing at different speeds here, a particular pipe began trembling as though it might burst there, and yet the insulation held. Teeth grit together she kept trying. Come on! She thought pleading silently with the fates. Do something, something had to happen! Why wasn't anything happening?
That was when Darius stepped forward, "It's alright," he smiled sadly a hand on her shoulder. "I've got this." Whatever 'this' was Brooklynn knew innately that it wasn't good, and that she couldn't let him do it alone.
It was when she turned to ask him what exactly he had in mind that she saw it, the morose, rueful light in his gaze. Then it clicked with her, then she realized.
The guilt.
The intense overwhelming guilt he'd been carrying with him this entire time.
Darius had been throwing himself head first at every danger they came across, putting his life at risk for theirs with each and every opportunity that arose. He didn't give it a single thought, not once did he seem to hesitate or second guess his decisions. This entire time Brooklynn had taken it for bravery and courage, while she had heard Yasmina and Kenji call it recklessness. But now the truth had been laid bare and she saw his actions for what they were. He was punishing himself for Jayson, had been from the onset, and now for Ben too. Brooklynn with a stabbing pain in her heart wondered if a part of him was hoping to be killed to make amends, and if he was even fully aware of why he was doing what he was doing.
"No," she argued, turning to look at the passage he was eyeing, mentally calculating as she was sure he was as well how long it would take them to reach it. "We've got this."
"Brooklynn, no," Darius said. "I have to do this. I-"
"Just try and stop me." Brooklynn smirked giving the boy a tap on the nose with a puffy index finger. Before he could utter another word she had turned and started running. "Hey over here, catch me!" she shouted to the animals who's heads snapped at attention with eager surprise.
"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Darius asked catching up to her the shrieks and calls of the raptors echoing behind them.
"Always." Brooklynn smiled reaching out and taking his hand in her own.
Legs churning the two ran with everything they had in them the sounds of their pursuers jockeying for position behind them lending speed to their strides. Then without warning they took a wrong turn and found themselves running straight at a set of iron bars. There was a hall to either side, and with no way of knowing where, if anywhere each route would take them Darius gave Brooklynn's swollen fingers a squeeze and they darted Brooklynn to the right, Darius to the left, dividing their hunters affectively.
Alone Brooklynn found the sound of her own fears overwhelming as she pelted blindly through alternating darkness and dimmed bloody lighting. The velociraptor screeched when she took a tight turn. Unable to gain traction on the slick floor with its talons the beast slid into a nearby wall with a bellow.
Dashing down a short hall Brooklynn stopped pressing herself tight into a corner hands clamped over her mouth and nose in an attempt to stifle her own rampant and frightened breathing. She heard the raptor's claws tapping as it ran past, the animal snorting as it raced onwards in pursuit of its illusive prey. Shuddering Brooklynn wiped the tears and snot from her face as she cried as silently as humanly possible. Then, when she was sure it had gone the girl crept out of hiding and doubled back the way she had come.
Tiptoeing down the corridor, to Brooklynn's all encompassing dread she realized that she had no idea where she was. Everything looked the same, there were lights, and pipes, spigots, and dead ends everywhere. Sure the walls had giant numbers painted across them, but it wasn't like she had time to read them, or make a mental map of the labyrinthian tunnels while she was in the midst of running for her life. She couldn't find her way back, she realized turning this way and that, her ears keen for the sound of anyone or anything approaching. Cupping her tender button as hopelessness set in Brooklynn found herself wandering.
Please, her thoughts were bittersweet, please even if I don't make it out of here let it have worked, let everyone be alright!
Trying to turn down a narrow shaft the girl focused solely on trailing the piping above her, reasoning that, hopefully they'd lead her back to her set of valves she had left the others by. Something touched her back. With a gasp body going rigid Brooklynn turned to see Darius in the darkness, a finger pressed urgently to his lips indicating for her to be quiet. Brooklynn hugged the boy quaking all over with a cocktail of fear and relief swimming in her head.
"I'm so glad you're alright!" she whispered.
"Me too- you- I'm-" the boy fumbled hugging her back, he was still panting dismally for breath.
Brooklynn laughed and shook her head. "It's alright."
They stood in each other's arms for several minutes before the girl dared to ask, "Do you know where we are?"
"No." Darius admitted.
Separating from the embrace they looked each other over, finding the other shaken but sound. Together, after a few moments they ventured back into the winding walkways and corridors, desperately lost. Creeping in at the edges of their minds like fleeting shadows a sense of defeat settled over them. Without much fanfare, or even acknowledging that they had all but given up the pair sat weary from a day of running, their backs against the cold concrete, unable to continue.
"You keep touching your stomach are you alright?" Darius asked after noticing the way Brooklynn kept cupping the left side of her belly.
"Fine." she snapped, blinking back the burning discomfort. After sitting in the quiet for several minutes the irritating sting had begun to grow unbearable. With a frustrated grunt of embarassment Brooklynn scooted away lifting her jacket and shirt finally looking at the white port in her stomach.
"It's called a MIC-KEY button," she half shouted shamefully fending off any questions before they could be posed. "It's gross and weird I know-"
"My dad had one." Darius observed, staring at the tube. "Near the end... Are you alright?"
Brooklynn felt a pang for assuming the worst from him without giving him a chance, and even worse for reminding him of his dad's failed battle. Quietly assessing the damage Brooklynn saw that her skin was already turning an angry pink, and turning soft, the smell acrid and nauseating.
"You've gotta keep it dry or you'll get ulcers from the acid." Darius put in helpfully.
"Yeah, I know." Brooklynn snapped. "I'm the one who's gotta live with it."
"Sorry."
"No..." Brooklynn winced, dabbing at the stomach fluid with a dry portion of her shirt. What was her problem? She wondered, he was just trying to help and she bit his freaking head off for it! "It's, it's not you, really." the girl mumbled.
"I get it," Darius shrugged. "It's been a stressful day."
Caught off guard by the blunt matter of fact way Darius had understated everything in one sentence Brooklynn burst out laughing, Darius joining her, the infectious joy mingling with their exhaustion and washing away some of their dread.
"Do you know why I do the whole YouTube thing?" Brooklynn asked after a while, she wasn't sure where she was going with this, but it felt like something she needed to share, and a good segway into talking about his feelings without going straight for the throat.
"No." he shook his head.
The girl let out a sigh, lowered her shirt, and leaned back. "It actually started when my therapist suggested I journal my experience with this." she pointed to her button before motioning to herself as a whole and then tapping herself on the head. "You know, all of this. Well I wasn't much for writing stuff down, it didn't stick, it wasn't something I could or would keep up with. So she suggested video blogging, and that, that was something I could get behind."
There was a pause where Brooklynn was trying to decide what to say next.
"It helped, and then it didn't, it just made things worse." she shrugged. "And then it helped again in a different way when I went from documenting my 'journey,' to documenting my travels."
"I'm glad." he smiled.
Brooklynn returned the expression with a bitter smile of her own. "Don't be, because it's not really helping me, not anymore. It's back to hurting me again... I'm sick Darius, and I know I'm sick but I can't seem to help myself out of it. If it's not, if it's not one thing it's another." she sobbed feeling herself starting to crumble.
"Their approval just- I don't even really know Darius, it just gives me something I think I need..." Brooklynn was trying to keep the tears at bay, she wasn't supposed to be blubbering like a damn baby, she was supposed to be helping him realize it was ok if he let go, not her.
Somehow, even knowing this, she couldn't keep the words from spilling out. "I don't like myself very much Darius... At all even... But when I'm streaming or making videos and they start commenting I can see someone worth while. I feel valued, heard, I feel real! But that bubbly smiling girl on the computer screen. She's not me, and she's not real. I'm nothing!"
"That's not true." he murmured pulling her into his chest. "Shh, that's not true. You are one of the bravest, smartest, funniest people I have ever met." the boy went on trying to soothe her hurt. "And if someone can't see that, then they're a God damn moron! And that includes you too, ya idiot."
Brooklynn found herself laughing as she dabbed at her face with her jacket sleeve. "I'm sorry, that got real heavy real fast and went way into left field."
"Baseball fan?" Darius asked.
"Little bit."
"What's your favorite team?" Darius asked, some of his old self pulling through.
"Yankees." Brooklynn said wrinkling her nose.
"Oh, I'm an Oakland A's fan, gotta go home team." Darius larked.
"Ouch."
"Tell me about it." the boy rolled his eyes.
"If we're going home teams though it'd better be the Red Sox." Brooklynn mused, listening to the beat of his wounded heart from where her head still rest against his chest.
"I can get behind that." he nodded.
"Darius, you don't have to blame yourself," Brooklynn chimed against her better judgement. "Or punish yourself for everything that's happened. It wasn't your fault. None of this is your fault."
Darius let out a sigh, turning away from her suddenly cold.
They sat quietly for several long minutes until the weight of the realization that they weren't going to be able to find their way back threatened to crush Brooklynn entirely. Trying hard not to the girl found herself crying, surprised that she had any tears left to give after everything they had been through.
"It's going to be alright." Darius said trying to comfort her. "Everything's going to be alright."
"You know you're allowed to be scared too!" Brooklynn whimpered. "You don't have to be so strong all the time"
"I know." Darius agreed, his voice thin. "And I'm not."
A/N: Sorry for the seemingly abrupt addition of extra raptors. I forget about communication on FF because you have to tack it on to the end of the story and that messes with your word count and that really bothers me for some reason so I never leave author's notes. Because I'm also writing on AO3 I forgot that I had established by chapter 4 that there are more raptors than the "Raptor Pack," and that while those readers already have that in mind y'all would be left wondering. I apologise. Here's what I wrote back in chapter 4 on AO3:
"While I'm talking about Velociraptors, though in the context of the videogame, I'd like to say that the fact the "the raptor pack" being the only Velociraptors in Jurassic World has always really bothered me and struck me as dumb. Velociraptors are probably the most infamous creations of InGen, (the escaped T-Rex from Lost World aside) especially after the first hand accounts of Ian Malcolm and anyone else who broke the non-disclosure agreement.
I can't imagine that Jurassic World would pass on such a lucrative attraction. So in my variation of this world there is a raptor exhibit at the park where the animals are showcased as their vicious selves and look more akin to the animals in the Jurassic Park movies (can't decide on if I like the design from #1 or #3 best though). The raptor pack was engineered specifically for training purposes which is why they have unique patterning so as to more easily distinguish them from one another.
Sorry, I know this won't play a part in the story for a bit but I wanted to share while I was thinking about it."
Thank you all for reading! I hope you're enjoying so far! :D
