To my surprise, I woke up.
I wasn't dead, I was alive.
But was everyone else?
When I sat up, I immediately yelped at the soreness in my back; the impact probably hadn't been good on my insides. At least it didn't feel like I broke my arms or legs, though!
"Is everyone okay?"
I look beside me to see Ben groaning and sitting up, while all around everyone was doing the same. Yaz helped Sammy to her feet, Kon climbed down from a tree, Darius struggled to stand, and me and Ben helped each other up. Brooklyn looked around, face covered in dirt and cuts. Everyone was covered in dirt and cuts.
"What...what was that thing?"
There was a loud roar, causing Ben to cower into my side. "It's coming!"
"Shh! It could be anywhere."
I look around, only seeing trees and greenery around me as well as broken pieces of the zip line. Where had the tower been? Where are we now? What's happening!
Too many questions, not enough time.
"The observation tower was that way!" Brooklyn pointed, before pulling her finger down. "Or...was it that way?"
Nobody knew where we were. Not good.
While Darius started freaking out over his lost necklace, and Sammy was looking conflicted over something, I checked Ben out to make sure he was okay. Only a few bruises littered his stomach, while there was a small cut covering a small portion of his hair red. Besides that, he seemed okay; as long as I didn't tell him he was bleeding, he'd stay that way.
"Okay, now let me check you."
I nodded, knowing he'd find something on my back due to the throbbing pain resonating there, but before he could, a loud roar echoed through the jungle.
We all screamed and huddled together, Ben latching onto my arm again. There was another roar, which was loud enough the shake the ground and send a jolt of pain up by spine and through my back. I winced, then felt myself nearly fall forward.
Nobody seemed to notice — of course not, I'm never noticed — and suddenly started running in a random direction.
Ben pulled my arm and brought me along, forcing me to run through the pain in my back.
"Everything will be fine when we get back to camp!" Darius shouted, though I wasn't so sure.
What if Dave and Roxy were there and worried sick about us? What if they were still gone, or worse? Many things could be going wrong right now without our knowledge, and we could find out too late!
We all leapt over a log and splashed through occasional puddles, not allowing ourselves time to rest. This wasn't very good for me, nor my back, because I've never run for so long as a minute straight, let alone ten! But I had to put the aching in my legs and back aside, because I'd rather push myself through that than allow myself to get eaten by an extinct monster.
As we kept running, I saw something coming up through the trees.
Please be the camp, please be the camp!
When we exited the tree line, we saw that is was indeed the camp.
But...it was destroyed!
The whole elevator portion of the building, along with the main floor, had collapsed. The top cabin had been half destroyed, evidence of something tearing through it left behind along with giant footprints and scratch marks.
It had been here. It destroyed our only safe house!
"We're doomed..." I whispered.
We all went to check the place out, finding nothing but rubble and dinosaur marks. It was terrifying, and left everyone in shock.
"Dave, Roxie, the other workers...they must've all gotten away." Sammy said.
Ben left my side to approach a turned over vehicle a few yards off, while I just watched. I couldn't bring myself to move much more, and whether it was the shock or pain, I didn't know.
Ben gasped, jumping away from the vehicle with a look of horror in his face.
"Not all of them!"
He fell to his knees, looking like he was about to vomit. I myself felt my stomach twist up as I pictured workers being torn to pieces, swallowed up by that...that monster! I'd never be able to eat meat again without thinking of that poor man!
Yaz picked up a walkie talkie, the radio that Dave and Roxie must've left behind, and pressed a few buttons.
"Hello? Hello! Can anyone- Ugh!"
She punched the radio when all that answered was empty static, and dropped it to the ground limply. "We're on our own."
There was silence, terror filled silence. Everyone's eyes were wide and filled with fear, while mine were watering.
Why did I come? Why did I let mom send me and Ben here when I knew Ben wouldn't have like this place?
Why?
Now because of it, we were all alone in a dinosaur infested jungle that held a man-eating beast! Because I said yes, I lost my guitar and my music! And now I was stuck, trapped with a bunch of kids who knew nothing of surviving this stupid island!
We were doomed.
Eventually, the silence was broken by Brooklyn, who stomped over to Sammy.
"Give me my phone!"
"What!" Sammy stepped back.
"I don't care about you sneaking into Dr. Wu's lab, I don't care about whatever you did with the skin samples you took from the Sinoceratops-"
"Skin samples? What skin samples?" But the two didn't seem to hear Yaz, who was physically showing the confusion I was feeling inside.
"I don't even care that you stole it now!" Brooklyn continued shouting. "All I wanna do is call for help! Where is it?"
"I...I...I don't know what you're talking about!"
Sammy pushed past Brooklyn, walking towards us.
"Skin samples? Sneaking into labs? You made up some crazy thing in your own damn head."
Brooklyn, about to shout, stopped when Yaz stepped in front of Sammy protectively.
"Back off! Not everything revolves around your phone! It isn't Sammy's fault you lost it!"
"Guys-" Darius tried, but was ignored.
"Just stop worrying about that stupid little box, and more about other real life people for once in your life!"
"I do worry about other people."
"Do you? That's not what you said to me and Blake back on that truck!"
"I was angry, okay? I wasn't in a good mood-"
"You were angry because of that phone! Because you care so much about your online status, that you don't even care about what's going on around you."
"I do not! Besides..."
I couldn't stop it. I couldn't control what happened next.
With Brooklyn and Yasmina fighting, and Ben and Kon starting another argument over god knows what, I just felt something boiling inside me. Something red, and angry, and just plain desperate. It built up to the point where I finally just blew up, done with everyone and everything!
"Will you all just shut up!"
They did, instantly going quiet, but I didn't stop there.
"Oh my- you guys are going to get us all killed! You guys are so focused on each other's rivalries, that you aren't even realizing that we all just watched people get eaten! We are alone, and lost, and defenseless. And unless we stop arguing and get our heads out of our butts, I suggest we try and do something about it, or else we're all dead!"
Nothing.
Dead, stunned silence.
Everyone looked at me with shocked expressions, arguments forgotten over my outburst, which I was just suddenly processing.
Oh shit. I just did that!
I just released all of my emotions. All of my anger and frustration...and they'd never even heard me talk several words, much less scream them at their faces!
What did I just do?
And why did it actually feel good?
"Blake?"
Ben touched me, but I stepped back. I felt the tears from earlier returning, and my stomach and chest and back aching. I turned away and stomped over to to a more secluded area of the disaster that was now our former camp, and sat against the base of the tree with my back facing the group.
The tears fell freely now, down my cheeks and splashing onto my knees and the ground. I let them do so silently, while my head pounded and my back throbbed.
Even if they did managed to get their heads together, there was no way we were getting out of here. We're just a bunch of lost, scared kids who no nothing about surviving on an island being haunted by a psycho monster!
We were dead no matter what.
And all I could do was wait for it to happen.