Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 28: Alive Or Dead

Ben's alive.

But...where is he?

Tears blur my vision as I scan around for any other sign that my brother was here. That my brother, lost and scared, took his watch off for whatever reason and ran to look for us.

Except...he'd think we were gone, wouldn't he?

He'd think we'd made it to the ferry and he was all alone and scared and-

I had to find him.

I had to find him now.

And that meant, of course, losing all rationality and letting myself forget we were on an island full of dinosaurs that could be attracted by the sound of as much as a puff of air...

"Ben?" I practically screamed. My breaths grew uneven and hallow, and I ignored the way the cry stabbed at my chest and throat. "Ben? Ben, it's me! It's Blake! Ben!"

I start to walk around, searching for any footprints or indents that would show sign of my brother. I couldn't stop...I had to find him, he had to be alive somewhere, he had to be!

And to think, all these weeks I've been thinking he was dead, when he's probably been running around scared as hell, all alone!

He thinks we abandoned him.

He thinks I abandoned him!

Oh, jeez...

"Ben! Ben, please, where are you!"

At this point I'm sobbing; I've tried looking everywhere, screaming for him and begging.

He had to be out here somewhere, I held his watch in my hand!

Eventually my knees gave, and I collapsed to the earth with the watch clutched tight in my hands. I stayed like that for a while, uncaring for the world around me — he's gone...he had to be, I must be hallucinating, some cruel part of these injuries!

He's dead...I might as well be, too.

————

I make it back to camp just as people start to get up. Instead of showing them the watch, the hopeless hope that one of our own was alive, I shove it into the pocket of my plaid button-up.

I don't show them because what's the point? He's dead, this thing I have is no proof to him having survived what surely had been a deadly fall.

Not to mention those pterodactyls...God, they had to have torn him apart, perhaps that's why the watch wasn't ripped.

Then why hadn't I found a hand to go with it?

I kept it to myself, ignoring the concerns of the campers and just silently getting myself some breakfast (the peaches I found were much more bitter than usual).

Finally, Darius got tired of the tension.

"What's going on, Blake? You seem really upset. Are...are you hurting? Please tell me you-"

"I'm fine, Darius." I lie roughly. "I'm just tired."

Kon, sitting across from me, laughed through his mouthful of fruit.

"Ha! I see nothing wrong; she's still the same bitter, sarcastic potato she's always been."

"You know what, Kon?" I snarl. "Fuck you!"

Everyone practically threw up their food in surprise at my language.

"Woah, woah! Blake, you didn't need to go that far."

Kon seemed to be in a particularly cocky mood today, because he gave me a wicked smirk and said, "Is that what you want? I mean maybe we can go out and-"

"What the hell is wrong with you, Kenji?" Yasmina screamed, pushing herself to her feet. She stared at him in utter disbelief and disgust. "You're at least three years older than her you perverted little-"

"Okay, guys, maybe we just need a little-" Sammy starts, but is interrupted by Kon trying to justify his earlier bitter words. Everyone at the table starts yelling at each other, and I find myself shrinking back into my chair.

Not out of fear, but rage.

The fuming becomes to much, and I finally jump to my feet and scream.

"Everybody shut up!"

They did.

"You want to know what's wrong? Really? Well I'll have you look at what I found while on a little stroll this morning."

Before anyone could call me out on leaving camp, I slam down the watch for them all to see. Sammy looks confused.

"A watch? What's wrong with that?"

I snarl, then Kon, who's suddenly frozen up with his face contorted into a look of horror, whispers, "That's Ben's watch."

Everyone gasps.

I nod.

"Yep! It's my brother's wrist-clock. I found it out in the middle of nowhere and now...now I think..." I choke back a sob. "I think he might be alive."

There's an eerie silence at the table, one so eerie that I want to walk away right now. But I stay and wait. Wait for their reactions.

"Blake..." Darius whispers. "Are...Are you sure? It could've just fallen after-"

"There's no rips in the band, see that? Call me crazy, I don't care, but I'm convinced that my brother might be out there somewhere."

"Even if he is, Blake, what are the chances he's survived? If not the Pterodactyls or the drop, there's still a bunch of other predators roaming around out there. He might not have survived."

I don't know what to say to Brooklyn in that moment. On the one hand, I want to reach over and smack her for her disgusting words; but at the same time, she had a point.

Even if Ben did somehow manage to survive the monorail and pterodactyls, what are the odds he's survived the rest of the jungle for over a month? Knowing him, he probably wouldn't have survived a few extra hours by himself!

Either way, he was most likely gone.

There was no real way to tell if he was alive.

Despite the odds, however, I can feel something in my chest. Something that was t there until just now.

Something is telling me Ben is out there.

And I need to find him.