We Survived | Camp Cretaceous

Misguided

Amelia

I stared up at my brother in shock, not quite believing he was here, in front of me. The longer I stared, the more concerned he looked so I shook my head, blinking harshly to snap myself out of it.

"Jayden?" I asked quietly as I stood and he smiled, "Hey Lia." Something inside me clicked then, and I half stepped half fell forward to wrap him in a hug and he quickly returned it. I squeezed him as hard as I could without hurting him, afraid he would disappear if I let him go.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered through fresh tears, "God I'm so sorry. I tried to hold on. I really did." I let him go then, a relief flashing through me when I saw he was indeed still there, and he also had a few tears sliding down his face.

"You're sorry?" He asked, sounding confused, "Why are you sorry? I'm sorry. I should've been strong enough to pull myself back up. And I didn't even tell you I loved you too before I fell. You said it and I didn't say it back." I frowned at him.

"Don't be sorry for that. You were literally holding on for dear life, I'm not mad." I told him, shocked he would even think I was mad at him for that.

He sighed, "Okay, we're both sorry, neither of us should be, so let's just move on, okay?" I nodded with a smile before stepping closer. He held out his arms, prepared for another hug but I didn't hug him.

I smacked him in the back of the head. I struggled, because he's so freaking tall, but I managed it. He rubbed the back of his head, "Ow! What was that for? I thought we just decided we were cool."

"That was for scaring me. I thought you died! Ugh, rude." It was meant to sound like I was yelling at him, but I knew I was smiling and he knew I wasn't actually mad. At that point, I remembered another certain person who was also assumed dead, but was standing right behind me. I turned to face Ben and saw Brooklynn backing away, presumably after hugging him, and they both noticed my brother as I ran up to Ben, also hugging him. I heard feet hitting the ground and I assumed that Kenji and Brooklynn also went to hug my brother, the shock finally starting to wear off. As we all finished hugging we ended up standing in a rough circle, smiling at each other before soft grunting came from the ground beside us. We looked over and saw Hap starting to stir, effectively wiping away our smiles as Ben sighed, "Oh, right. We should probably deal with that." He moved to grab some vines before kneeling beside Hap and tying them around his wrists and arms, explaining how he survived as he did.

"Fell off the monorail, got savaged by pteranodons, found Bumpy, survived in the jungle, found Jayden, defeated Toro and then Jay and I overheard that fancy couple conspiring with this guy, Hap. So I figured you guys might need our help." We all looked at him with mixed emotions, mostly shock and being impressed. I turned to Jay to confirm and he shrugged and mouthed 'I'll explain later' so I nodded and turned back to Ben.

"Oh hey" Kenji started, "I still have your dork pouch...what?" He trailed off as he pointed at where Ben's fanny pack was, but it wasn't there anymore.

"Oh, yeah" Ben said as he stood, "I snatched it off you earlier. But thanks for keeping it safe." He squeezed hand sanitizer into his hands before putting it back and rubbing it in. It was then that I finally noticed that, unlike Jayden, Ben's appearance had changed quite a bit. He was left in a white tank top with a blue bandanna, probably made from his shirt, wrapped around his forehead. He crouched down to pick up the cattle prod that Hap had before standing again.

"Could have used this while fighting ol' Toro, eh Bumps?" He asked Bumpy, who I hadn't gotten a chance to greet yet, before spinning it and nearly dropping it in the process.

"Ben, focus." Brooklynn finally spoke up, "The couple, what exactly did they say?" I internally sighed, not really wanting to get back into all the serious stuff but knowing we had to anyways. We all moved closer to listen, and I made sure to stay close to Jayden, just in case.