Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 29: The Boy Hunt

"I'm going out there to look for him, whether you guys come with me or not!"

No matter what, they'll never convince me to back away. I'm going to go find my brother, the brother I know is alive, no matter what they try to say. Even if Ben isn't alive, and he's really been dead this whole time, I can't stand the idea of not trying to look at the very least.

And if worst case comes and I find...well, at least I'd be able to give him a proper burial, right?

As I head for the slide, Darius tries to tug on my arm, begging me to stop.

"Blake, you're still hurt! I'll go out there with you when you're better, but-"

"Didn't we make plans to go out today, anyway?" I turn suddenly, making them all jump back. Darius' eyes widen and mine narrow down on him. "Didn't you say I could come? Didn't I agree?"

Darius looks away in shame and mutters something under his breath.

"What was that?"

He mutters again before sighing aloud.

"I...I didn't think you'd actually agree." He admits. I watch him strangely; why didn't he think I'd agree? What...no, that doesn't matter right now, there are more important things at hand!

I change the subject quickly.

"Look, whatever. If you wanna come with me, let's go, but if not, stay here, I don't care!"

I turn and push myself down the slide, followed by Darius.

"If I can't stop you, I guess I'll come with you." He says. Brooklyn, to my surprise, also comes down.

"I need the walk anyways." She claims, though there's something else there I can't really read. Whatever, I offered everyone a chance, and she was taking it. Just...let her, even though you hate her...

"You guys staying here?"

Sammy, Yasmina and Kon, still standing up on the balcony above, all nodded and told us they'd stay there until we got back. With a final goodbye, Brooklyn, Darius and I set off to search for my brother.

Who, unbeknownst to me, was only a few miles away at this time...

————

"How long are you planning on looking?"

It's barely been half an hour — at most — and Brooklyn has already started to question me. Darius barely seems to be paying any attention, keeping his eyes strayed from the brush ahead of us. The tension is high and thick in the air, and I try not to let it get to me in favor of searching for Ben.

The Ben who may or may not be alive as of this moment.

May or may not be breathing, maybe even speaking at this moment.

May or may not be curled up in a ball thinking I'd abandoned him after promising to keep him safe and to protect him at all-

"As long as it takes to find him."

"You don't know if you will, Blake. What if-"

"I don't care." I say, determined more than ever. My face is set as stone, my conscious and motivations clear. It's not something I would've ever thought I'd be expressing, but here I was now, hiking through a dinosaur infested jungle with exactly that showing on my body expressions.

"You should." Brooklyn mutters. We don't speak anymore after that, not for a while.

We keep walking, me with the watch in one hand and hiking stick in the other. Darius continues straying away from earth, and I let him. Brooklyn just stays quiet, which I relish in.