⍟ Broken Strings {A Chaos Theory x Male Reader Story - Ben}

𝟸. 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚍

"We've gotta do something." Darius decides.

"It'll be fine if--"

"Don't worry, we've got it." Dairus cuts Aminata off as he and the others begin creeping out of their hiding spot.

"Where are you going!?" She calls after them in a hushed tone.

The five of them creep around the side of the house and through the brush, ending just behind the dinosaur. They duck behind some trees and observe as it continues to snack on the farm.

"We need to get it toward the tree line and make sure it doesn't double back to the farm." Darius explains.

Sammy and Yaz shuffle to one side, standing in the water of the farm while the boys move to stand in the grass, blocking the dinosaur from both sides.

"Hey!" Sammy shouts at the creature, "We don't want you here! Shoo, shoo!"

"Get out of here you overgrown alligator!" Yaz waves her arms at it.

The Suchomimus whips around and growls at the girls, taking a step to charge towards them. Y/N scoops up a rock from the ground and chucks it at the dino, Kenji and Darius soon joining him.

It turns around again, this time charging towards them.

"RUN!" Darius cries, spinning on his heel and falling into a sprint, the other two boys right after.

They speed down the dirt path in the jungle, the dinosaur surprisingly agile as it snaps at their heads and speeds up behind them. Y/N can feel its breath on the back of his neck as he tries to boost himself forward.

"There!" Darius shouts, "Get it to those rocks! Maybe we can slow it down and get out of its sight!"

The three boys pivot for the mass of oddly shaped rock, Darius and Y/N hurdling over it and ducking down while Kenji jumps onto it and begins climbing higher.

The Suchomimus leaps onto the rocks as well, clawing up and climbing after Kenji. The crawls its way to the top, meeting Kenji on the big part of the rock and backing him onto the ledge.

"It sees you, now move!" Darius calls out the obvious when Kenji doesn't immediately escape.

Kenji still doesn't budge. He keeps backing closer and closer towards the edge of the rock, studying the dinosaur carefully as it prepares to charge towards him.

Sammy and Yasmina catch up to them, skidding to a stop when they spot Kenji on the rocks, ready to tango with the Suchomimus.

"Why is he just standing there!?" Yaz cries.

Just as the predator goes to lunge for Kenji, he jumps from the ledge of the rock. The dinosaurs misses its shot and crumples onto the ground while Kenji easily catches his fall on the edge of the boulder and drops himself down safely.

The Suchomimus easily finds its bearings, leaving no one any time to question Kenji's risky sacrifices as they begin running once again. The five of them sprint back towards the farm but are easily cut off by the much faster creature.

Booming footsteps behind them catch both the attention of the dinosaur and the friends alike as the whirl around to see Aminata and her daughter riding on the backs of Stegosauruses, charging towards them.

"Move!" Aminata shouts, prompting everyone to jump out of the way as she and her daughter leap off the Stegos and let them charge towards the Suchomimus.

The Stegosauruses are soon joined by the rest of their herd, and they form a circle around the Sucho, cornering it and beating it with their tails when it tries to slip through. Eventually, the predator backs down, scampering off into the trees with a pained squeal.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

"Those Stegosauruses," Darius brings up as he and Y/N approach Aminata back on the farm, "You had them here on purpose?"

"They're naturally territorial. We take care of them." The woman explains as she strokes one of the dinos sides.

"And they protect you and the farm by keeping the Suchomimus away." Darius nods in understanding.

"That's... brilliant!"

Aminata's daughter giggles to herself as she brings over some leaves for the dino, "Now he gets it."

"We're sorry we moved them." Y/N speaks up, "We... shouldn't have assumed we knew the whole situation."

"No, you shouldn't have." Aminata smiles, "But thank you for saying it."

"You know, not a lot of people see dinosaurs the way you do back where we're from." Darius mentions.

"As something that can be helpful, instead of..."

"Nuisances?" Sammy finishes.

"Pee-your-pants terrifying?" Yaz tries.

"Destructive?" Y/N adds.

"Menacing?" Kenji chuckles.

"Yeah, pretty much." Darius grins.

"Not everyone here views them that way either." Aminata smiles, "But they're not our enemies any more than any other animal is."

"If we can find a way to co-exist, why wouldn't we?"

"So," She changes topic quickly, "You're all looking for the people responsible for bringing them here?"

"Yeah. We think they're connected to the same people we've been looking for." Darius confirms.

"Who have also been looking for us." Y/N adds with a huff.

"Then I guess we all need to talk, don't we." Aminata nods.

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

Everyone sits around the campfire in silence, the only small noises being the crackling of the burning wood and the lyric-less tune humming from the portable radio the Aminata brought out.

Ben finally emerges from wherever he'd been all day and shows himself at the fire, taking a seat beside Y/N, although Y/N promptly scoots away.

"Ben!" Sammy grins, "And before sunset!"

"Hey, glad we don't have to send out a search party." Yaz chuckles.

"I listen." Ben shrugs.

"Dude, those Stegos did come from upriver. And there are more dinosaurs here too!" Yasmina fills him.

"The Mballos have been trying to figure out what's going on, just like us." Sammy explains, "There are the Mballos." She gestures towards them.

"Aminata and Zayna."

"Nice to meet you." Aminata smiles.

"Did you get service?" Darius asks eagerly, "Did you find anything that could help?"

Ben hesitates for a moment before fishing the phone from his pocket, "Yeah... There was this DLN video, on Dark Jurassic, and..." He pauses, looking up at his friends and seemingly studying their faces.

"And... And it had satellite footage of some of clusters of dinosaurs along a remote tributary further inland."

"All right, Pincus!" Yasmina cheers.

"So, we just have to follow the trail upriver!" Darius stands.

"Do I feel the return of Captain Kenji coming on?" Kenji grins wide.