Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 14: End Of The Line

A/N: This chapter is a lot longer than the others, and took FOREVER to write! Anyways, I hope you enjoy❤️

The last ferry evacuates in ninety minutes.

"It's over...it's finally over."

Darius turns to face us, smile wide on his exhausted looking face.

"Guys, we did it! We're going home!"

I smile, thinking of mom and the comfort of my room and bed. Although I'm still pretty upset about my guitar and songs — I was nearly finished filling out the whole of my second song book, of which I started two years ago after finishing my first — it wasn't the worst thing I could've lost this trip. I could've lost my life, Ben's life, anyone else's life...or even my home! We could've gotten trapped here, but here we are, heading towards the ferry that'll take us back to safety!

And the best part isn't even that! It's that now I'm not as quiet or scared to speak my mind.

Now, I'm not as a nervous to be social or talk to others about myself and my feelings.

Sure, it may take some time to completely recover from the trauma my dad left me with, but at least I've started.

And I owe that to the people in this car.

"Woo-hoo!" Sammy suddenly jumps up, shaking me from my inner reflection. Ben flinches, Bumpy squeals, and everyone else laughs.

Then, after a short silence, Darius jumps up onto a chair and cheers along.

"Yeah! Woo!"

Everyone follows suit, laughing and cheering. It doesn't matter how loud we're being now, since we aren't stuck in the dinosaur-infested-jungle anymore. We're safe, which means we're free to be ourselves and let our emotions finally take control for our worn out adrenaline.

"This calls for a celebration!" Brooklyn says, sitting behind me and Ben.

"I think I can help with that."

Ben reached into his fanny pack — wait, he still has that? — and takes out several carob bars. Mmm! I love those things! How did I go so long without them?

"Stashed a few treats for the road."

I snatch one out of his hands quickly as he passes them out to everyone. I shove the heavenly piece of deliciousness down my throat in a single swallow, loving the bitter aftertaste it leaves on my tongue. But it doesn't seem everyone else shares the same likening for them as me and Ben do, because they all start gagging as soon as they take a bite out of them.

"This is nasty!"

"Get it off! Get it off!"

Ben breaks off a piece of his bar and feeds it to Bumpy, who chews it greedily. He doesn't seem to really notice the others' distasteful words and spitting as he takes a bite of his own. He smiles and hums in contentment.

"Ben, someone stole your candy bars and put dirt in 'em." Sammy says.

I eye everyone in surprise. Why don't they like these? They're literally the best treats ever!

The only other person I ever knew to have a disliking for them is mom, though, I suppose, she does have a pretty picky menu when it comes to food and her tastebuds.

"They're called carob bars." I explain. Ben nods. "They're paired perfectly with-"

"Carob juice." Darius finishes for him, looking at his bar in disgust. "A-Awesome..."

"Carob is nature's chocolate. Just as delicious, with none of the sugar or caffeine."

I look over at Kon, who's about to toss the nibbled bar aside when I quickly snatch it from his hand.