Survivors

5

"HELP!"
"CAN ANYONE HEAR US!"
"HELLO?!"
We were all shouting, hoping someone would hear us. After awhile, we realized no one was coming. Brooklynn looked at us with tears in her eyes. We all piled into a group hug.

A vine was thrown into the gyrosphere. "Grab on," I heard Yasmina say. "GUYS!" Brooklynn shouted. We all grabbed onto the vine. Just as we were fully submerged in the mud, we were pulled out very quickly.

Yasmina pries open the door with a tree branch. "Hey.." Darius said, quietly. The rest of the team were cheering and came up to us. "Cowgirl for the win!" Kenji said, giving Sammy a high-five.

We all turn our heads to see a familiar truck pull up. "Hey, look! It's Dave and Roxie!"

♡

"You could have been killed! What were you thinking!" Roxie scolded us as the door opened up to the camp. "That we found a lost dino... and Brooklynn, Darius, and Chris," Sammy said, giving Kenji a fist pump. "Don't ask me how I did it, but I did it," Kenji said, making us laugh as we walked in the elevator. "Now stay in your bunks, you hear me," Roxie said as she shut the door and we made our way up to the bunks.

"Weren't you crying at one point," Sammy asked. "Hey! I helped," Kenji responded. "Oh my gosh, is he serious," Brooklynn asked. "Wow Kenji," Yaz said.

We all changed into our pj's and headed into bed. I laid down, my head resting against the pillow. I looked out at the sky and saw a meteor shower. I sat up and watched it. I heard sheets rustling beneath me. "Can't sleep dino nerd," I said. "Nope, can you," he said. "I can, just wanted to see this meteor shower," I said, "Care to join me?" Darius sighed before he climbed up to my bed.

We both sat in silence as we watched the meteor shower. "Amazing, isn't it," I said. "Yeah," Darius responded. "Me, my dad and... an old friend would always climb onto the roof of our old house and just look at the stars," I said. "That's cool. My mom would have a heart attack if I tried going out on the roof, "Darius said. I chuckled. "What's something you and your dad do?" I asked. Darius hesitated before speaking.

"Me and my dad used to talk dinosaur all the time," Darius said, sounding a little sad. "Used to? Is your dad..," I said, not wanting to continue. "Yeah," Darius responded. "I'm so sorry," I said. He sadly smiled at me. "It's fine," he mumbled. He gripped his raptor tooth necklace. "I have this to remember him by," he said, sadly smiling. I pulled him into a hug.

After a minute or two, I pulled away. "No really, I can't imagine losing my dad. I don't even know if he is alive," I said. "What do you mean?" Darius asked. "My dad is in the military. He's currently in Afghanistan, you could guess why," I responded, "My mom used to be in the military, but she dropped out and got a job on the security team here. That's why I'm here." I don't know why I was telling Darius this, but I just felt like I could trust him. I guess I was the same thing for him. Telling me about his dad must be hard.

The meteor shower ended and we went back to our bunks and fell asleep.

♡

I hang upside-down on the couch, my braids brushing against the ground, twirling my pocket knife in my hand. Ben tried copying my movements with a crayon. I chuckled.

"What's up Camp Cretaceous," Darius shouted, bursting into the room. "Not in a 'woo hoo' mood this morning, Darius. Not after yesterday. Trekking through a rainstorm will do that," Kenji complained from his spinny chair.

"We only had to walk because you crashed our gyrosphere," Ben stated, slurping on his juice box. Kenji growls at Ben making him hide behind a pillow.

"But today's a new day! Kayak Day! Who doesn't want to paddle alongside dinosaurs, real dinosaurs!? It's gonna be awesome, right!?" Darius said, trying to get all of us excited, "Wait, where are Dave and Roxie?"