I can't do this again || Benrius

Venturing for hope.

Once Brooklynn and Kenji returned we all mutually agreed to go and scavenge for canned food, or something we could use to protect ourselves.

"Maybe some of us should stay back at camp, make sure nothing happens here." Sammy suggested, grabbing a few leftover bags from the treehouse.

"No, splitting up is a bad idea right now." I said after a while of silence, expecting Darius to have said something. I sighed, staring up at the boy in the treehouse who was passing bags to Sammy, who was passing said bags to Yasmina who was on the ground. 

Everyone nodded before we began our way through the seemingly endless forest. The walk was quiet, other than a few happy chatters from Sammy and Yasmina. 

"Guys, look! The garage of vehicles that Hap lead us to!" Brooklynn said, pointing to the large garage in the distance.

"That means we're in Chaos' territory..." Sammy muttered before shushing herself.

"Well, let's hope they aren't here then." Kenji whispered as we crept past the building. 

Once we passed the building we continued our walk through the dense jungle, occasionally running across a herbivore or two.

"Bumpy!" I said, noticing the familiar Ankylosaurus in her herd. Bumpy turned and greeted us with a happy roar.

"Hey Bumpy." Yasmina said, stroking the dinosaur's head.

"Come on, we should probably continue." Brooklynn said, agitated. I rolled my eyes. Geez impatient much.

I quickly hoisted myself onto the dinosaur, offering my hand to Darius who was walking slowly at the back of the group. He soon dismissed my hand, smiling at me reassuringly.

I shrugged before whispering to him. "Hey... You're acting off today, you alright?" I asked.

He nodded, turning his head away from me, he obviously still felt bad about what Brooklynn said.

I sighed before grabbing his wrist gently and pulling him up onto Bumpy. I could hear him mutter a few quiet words before wrapping his hands around my torso. I smiled slightly, trying to dismiss the butterflies in my stomach. 

We cought up to the rest of the group and Bumpy gave a frightened roar as she stared off into the forest.

"What's wrong, Bumpster?" I muttered, telling the Ankylosaurus to stop. Darius and I both dismounted. I walked over to Bumpy and gently caressed the side of her face.

She soon raised herself onto her back feet before slamming down onto the ground and running off into the distance.
"Bumpy!" I called after her. I was about to run after her before Kenji grabbed my arm.

"She'll be fine, we should keep going." He said. I frowned but slowly nodded, pulling my arm out of his grip and slowing down to walk next to Darius.

"Y'all.. What's that?" Sammy said as she pointed to the large silhouette in the distance.

A familiar roar echoed through the trees before Kenji gasped.

"Toro!" He said loudly.

"Run!" Brooklynn yelled as she began sprinting in the direction she thought camp was.

We all began running after her as Toro thundered around behind us, close behind us.

Brooklynn skidded to a stop as we came out onto a clearing. 

"Why'd you stop?!" Kenji asked as he ran up to Brooklynn, realizing we were trapped on a cliff. Toro slowly crept closer and closer to us, eventually standing a few feet away from us.

The carnivore let out a roar, causing me to freeze in fear while the others ran off, causing Toro to spin to turn them. 

"Ben!" I heard Darius called before I was knocked to the ground. My eyes widened as I watched Darius get hit harshly by Toro's tail, flinging him off of the cliff. I audibly gasped, reaching out for him but failing to grab his hand. 

"DARIUS!" I yelled, on the verge of tears. I began frantically looking around for a way off of the cliff before I was pulled away by Yasmina. 

"Ben, come on!" She said, grabbing my wrist and dragging my along with her, Toro eventually gave up on chasing us, turning to find another victim for his meal. 

Once we arrived back at camp my cheeks had already ben stained with tears and my feet were sore from being dragged. 

Was this how Darius felt when I fell? Why did the others not care? Why did Yasmina pull me away? Why aren't we looking for him? 

I felt more tears roll down my cheeks. They wouldn't stop, I didn't know what to do anymore. I lost him, he's dead, because of me. If I had just moved he would still be alive. If I grabbed him and pulled him with me, he would still be alive. If I pushed him out of the way I would've died instead of him. It was all my fault. 

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