Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 35: Reunion Day

"B-Ben?"

It can't be...I-it can't...there's no way!

Despite having recently felt that my brother was alive, that he was somewhere out in the jungle waiting for help, I'm still shocked. I'd watched Ben get dragged out of a train, watched him fall over fifty feet over the edge of a track. I watched him, dropped him, let him, fall into a dark abyss followed by a heard of hungry bird-beasts.

I watched him die!

But...he's here, standing directly in front of me.

And I can't tell if I'm dreaming or not...

"Hey, sis."

Ben, though it was almost hard to recognize him. His face was patterned with mud and dirt, and even bits of bruises and cuts that made me almost horrified, while the rest of him...I couldn't even bare to comprehend it.

He'd changed drastically!

He was barely the brother I remembered losing.

"Oh...oh my god." I cried, finally starting to realize that no, this was no prank nor dream. This was real, this was my brother. Ben's alive.

I push away the pain in my chest and get up, not sparing a single second to breath before lunging at my brother. He lets out a small "oof" as I collide with him, my arms wrapping around him tighter than I ever thought I could. He felt a little bigger than he once was (not in a bad way, of course), but he kept the lanky appearance up pretty well aside from the strange small muscles he seemed to have accumulated.

What the hell happened to him?

"Oh my god..." I whisper into his shoulder, ignoring as the other two get up behind me. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god...B-Ben, you're...you're actually here! I thought you..."

I finish my sentence with a sob, and he wraps his arms around me and holds me tight against him.

I'd never felt more safe in that moment, more relieved, just being back in his arms. I missed them so much!

"I missed you." I finally say, and I feel him smile into my shoulder.

"Me too. So much!"

After what had to be hours, I was sure, we pulled away. My fingers lingered on his arms, afraid that if I fully stepped away he'd disappear again. I take a moment to look at him, really look at him, and feel my chest sting again.

His eyes look...dimmer, than they'd been. Both physically and in the way I can see he's been through a lot. As I noted before, his face was dirtier than it has ever been, something so uncharacteristic of him that I wanted to faint in shock.

Not only that, but his hair was matted and spiked up, the gel he once wore no longer lathering it down. The bottom portion of this look was covered by a familiar blue strip of cloth made into a bandana, no doubt from what once was his button up.

Then of course, there was...well, the way he acted and the way he looked.

He was standing straighter than he ever had, with courage and remarkable strength. His wrists were covered by strips of bark tied with vines, while the rest of himself went unprotected and dirty.

Oh, and let's not forget to mention the staff that he held in his hand that was just used to knock Hap out!

Ben changed, that was clear.

Whatever happened to him the past month and a half...he wasn't the same person.

"What...what happened to you?"