Survivors

16

"Let's take this down Bumps," Ben said. Bumby ran forward and hit the gate with her tail. Nothing. Bumby hit it again. Still nothing.

"Yeah I don't think Wild Child and his Amazing Dino are going to punch down that gate," Yaz stated.

"Okay, maybe Bumby just needs a little pep talk," Kenji said. He got off the bike and walked to Bumby, cupping his hands around her face. "You're not gonna let let some door stand in your way, are you, Bumby?" He questioned, "You break barriers, barriers don't break you." Bumby nudged him. "What do we do now?" Bumby hit the gate again. Nothing.

"It's not budging," Ben said as Brooklynn approached the gate. Suddenly, a clang was heard and we looked around.

"¿Que demonios fue eso?" (What the hell was that) I said. I picked at the skin around my fingers.

"There it is again," Brooklynn mumbled. We then heard a whirring and, reluctantly, followed the noise.

"Tell me again why we are following the weird noise? What are we? White people in a horror movie?" I questioned. Brooklynn and Ben cast me a look. "Don't act like I'm wrong," I snipped. Ben shrugged while Brooklynn hid her giggle.

We followed the noise to a door. "If there's electricity down here, we could find a way to raise that gate and follow the hum," Brooklynn said. She took out the keycard and opened the door to reveal a cold hallway.

"Woah it's cold enough down here to-" "Freeze flowers," Brooklynn said, cutting Ben off.

"Is that a thing people say now?" Ben asked, confused. "You missed a lot," I said. We all continued down the hallway and followed the hum towards a door.

"It's coming from here," Brooklynn said. She then opened the door with the keycard and we all walked inside the dark room.

"Wow, what is this place?" Yaz questioned.

"Oh snap! This must be, like, some kind of secret backup power center. My dad might not even know about this," Kenji informed.

"We gotta find a way to raise that gate and get to Sammy and Darius. Start looking," Brooklynn said. We all looked around for a way to raise the gate.

"We gotta get the power on," Yaz said. "No shit Sherlock," I snipped.

"None of these are the right button," Ben said.

"Oh! One of them has to be! I once helped a a Dutch seamstress find an actual needle in an actual haystack. I can find this," Brooklynn said.

Kenji flipped a switch in the power box and the lights came on. "The power box," I said, "It was so obvious." "Kenji you did it," Brooklynn said.

"Natch," Kenji said, grinning. Brooklynn hit a few switches and the cameras came online.

"Now where are they?" Brooklynn questioned.

"You guys look! They're right there!" Yaz exclaimed, pointing at the screen with Darius and Sammy on it.

"We can see you!"
"Yeah! Yes!"
"They're still alive!"
"Finally!"
We all cheered as we saw that they were OK. Or... so we thought.

We gasped as we saw Tiff and Mitch on another screen. "Shoot! Shoot, no! Darius! Sammy! Behind you!" Brooklynn tried speaking through the speaker but it wasn't working.

"Darius! Sammy! Guys!" Kenji yelled.

"They can't here us," Ben sighed.

"Where is the stupid speaker button?" Brooklynn exclaimed.

"Hey, wave if you can here us!" Yaz yelled. Brooklumn was scrolling through the cameras when she gasped. A camera showed the T-rex walking away from her lair.

"Oh no," Brooklynn mumbled.

We watched as Rexy charged at Tiff and Mitch, scaring them away. She saw Darius and Sammy and snapped at them, but got a gun case stuck in her teeth. Darius and Sammy ran and hid.

Mitch tries to grab the gun case but Rexy swung him around and sent him flying. Rexy turned her attention to Tiff, snarling. She charged at Tiff, who ran off to Mitch. The two hid in a small alcove and Rexy charged at them. She got her head stuck and she couldn't reach them.

Mitch then switched on his taser and zapped Rexy. We all could tell she was in pain as she tried wriggling herself out. She then lifted her head abruptly, breaking some off the wall, and shook herself. She started walking back to her lair.

"That's it, be a good girl and go home," Brooklynn mumbled.

Rexy then stopped. She turned her head and it looked like she sniffed the air. She started walking to where Darius and Sammy were hiding, which was under a table.

Rexy knocked over the table and cornered Darius and Sammy, but she couldn't reach them.

We all started pushing buttons, trying to figure out a way to help Darius and Sammy. "There's gotta be another way to help," I mumbled, pushing more buttons.

"Fence control, power to retail shop, automatic advertising loop... hologram?" Kenji and Brooklynn looked at each other. "Hologram!" Kenji pushed the button and a hologram T-rex started playing on a loop. Rexy turned her attention and started roaring at it. That gave Darius and Sammy enough time to run away.

Kenji then found the speaker button. "Testing, testing. Party people! What what!" He exclaimed, "Greetings humans, it is I, your leader."

Brooklynn shoved Kenji out of the way. "We found a backup generator and turned the power back on," she explained.

We looked at the screen. Darius and Sammy were talking, but we couldn't hear them. "We can't hear you. What are you trying to say? What happened to Tiff and Mitch?" Brooklynn questioned.

Darius and Sammy started waving their arms around, still talking. "I really wished I knew how to read lips," I said. "We still can't hear you. Act it out!" Brooklynn said.

"Oh, I love this game!" Kenji said, "Oh, okay... uh, TV shows? Books. A song!"

Yaz shoved Kenji out of the way. "A circle! Dirt! They're drinking... uh, water?" Yaz guessed.

"The watering hole! They're going to the watering hole!" Brooklynn exclaimed. Darius nodded while Sammy gave a thumbs up.

Darius then acted like he was holding a gun, and shooting something.

"Mitch and Tiff know where it is," Yaz said.

"And they're going to kill the dinosaurs," I realized.

**********

Dun dun duuuuunnnn! What will happen next? Until next chapter!

Fulcrum out!