Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 59: Awkward Times

"Let's go," I say, and we depart.

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We find the old Visitors Center after a while, the building slowly emerging from the trees, surrounded by wild and vast plantation that was finally taking over.

"Hopefully we're the only visitors at the Visitors Center," Darius says. We all slowly begin to slide down the small hill leading down to the clearing, trying our best to keep cautious and quiet. I keep a close eye on my brother as we do so, though he doesn't seem at all phased by his jerky movements.

"Don't worry," he chuckled. "Compies won't mess with us. We have a history."

"I meant that blue raptor," Darius corrects him. And I look at him with confusion.

"Wait, I thought all the raptors were dead?"

Darius turns to me. I can see the guilt in his face from miles away despite how hard he tries to hide it. I don't understand why.

"Well, uh...while you were gone, we...um...we found a surviving one. She's very territorial and usually stays around these parts, so we've gotta be careful."

Oh, I get it, now.

"Darius-" I start, only for his to cut me off with a gasp and run away.

Ben and I follow him to a rolled over vehicle, where, beside it, an empty tranq gun sits abandoned in the grass.

"Right where we left it. Tranq gun."

Darius goes to pick it up.

"Hopefully there's some ammo around here somewhere."

Just as he's about to touch it, the breaking of a branch behind us comes abruptly and we all scream and jump back in surprise. In front of us, Sammy, Brooklyn, Yaz, and Kenji all let out high pitched yelps and gasps, which turn into smiles of relief and joy, which I'm quick to echo.

"Oh! I-It's you guys!"

I'm the first one attacked by Sammy, who soon pulls the other two in while everyone else surrounds us in one large group hug.

"I'm so glad we found you!"

"We thought you guys were gone!"

"We thought you all died!"

The laughter eventually died down as we all pulled away, questions needing to be asked and answered now that we were all reunited.

"What are you doing here? We thought you left."

"What? No! Camp Fam for life, right? We'd never leave someone behind," Kenji says. I notice him sporting the dirty captain's hat, which I suddenly realized was no longer on Darius' head. I don't comment on it, though I let out a small chuckle about it.

"We just had to get away from that stupid Scorpios. It was on the dock."

"Yeah," I nod. "We saw them up close and personal."

"Wait, hold up," Sammy gestures at me wildly. "Them?"

"There's two of them."

Everyone groans.

"Because of course there are!"

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph..."

"Who would put two Scorpios on one island?"

"How is that even possible?"

Darius starts to pace, putting one hand behind his back and another out in front of him. I can't help the smile that pulls itself onto my face watching him, seeing him using his smart nerd heart to come to a logical conclusion. If the others weren't around, I'd let myself kiss him again. But I didn't know how they would all react, so I refrained.