Hey all, I'm back! Sorry I haven't published in a while, but I am alive and will start posting new chapters. I think I will write and publish as I feel like it since sticking to a schedule has been difficult for me. But since I have a lot of time on my hands right now due to not being in school, that will probably be pretty often.
Additionally, I have just started publishing a new fanfic. It is a Teen Wolf fanfic, so you should check it out if you like Teen Wolf or just like werewolf stories. I'm writing it similar to this one, where it goes along with the story, and I added in my own character. Also, it will eventually have Theo as a love interest for my character because he is hot. Hopefully, some of you will check it out; it's called "In the Shadows," and you can find it on my page.
Now, onto the story, you've been waiting for!
CHAPTER 26
After playing cards and answering a plethora of questions, we all decided to take a nap; Mae was still working on her analysis of the sample Sammy found, and we all realized how tired we were. After a while, Yaz woke us up. Apparently, Mae had found something in the sample.
"Okay, after careful analysis of the nutriment samples, I've discovered alarmingly high levels of rector antagonists, as well as adrenal additives. These must be the cause of the elevated combative state of the animals who've ingested them." Mae explained to us.
"Dude, what the heck is she talking about?" I heard Kenji ask Darius.
Mae let out a sigh before explaining what she said in simpler terms. "The T. rex food's been tampered with. They're adding things that make the dinos more aggressive and inhibits their ability to feel pain." Mae explained, but Kenji turned and looked at me, still a little confused.
"They are adding stuff to the food to make the dinosaurs angrier," I said with a shrug, and Kenji nodded at me.
"Mantah Corp is the worst," Sammy exclaimed. "Why would they do that?" Darius asked Mae. "I have no idea. But it seems more important than ever to get you kids off the island," she replied simply.
I think everyone was relieved to hear an adult who finally wanted to help us get home. "No argument here," Kenji said before he began to cough. "Are you feeling okay? Brooklynn asked, and I couldn't help as Kenji tried to play off the fact that he was obviously catching a cold.
"Great, trying to get off yet another island. Any ideas?" Brooklynn asked sarcastically.
Mae gasped after a moment startling us. "The supply plane!" she exclaimed. "It comes every two weeks. Only the next one's not due for another ten days." She said.
"We can't wait that long," Yaz said sternly, and we all looked at her, surprised. I knew something was going on with her; I just wasn't sure what it was. "Maybe we don't have to," Brooklynn said. "Any way to make the plane come sooner?" she asked Mae.
"Well, I suppose it would come if there was some sort of emergency," Mae replied.
"If we stopped the dinos from eating that messed-up food, Mantah Corp would notice, right?" Sammy offered. "Maybe we could kill two birds with one stone." I could see where Darius was going with this.
"We could get rid of the altered T. rex food and get the supply plane to come early," I exclaimed; Darius looked at me for a moment before nodding.
"Hang on. So, we're just gonna somehow get this supply plane to come? All the while avoiding getting eaten by dinosaurs or zapped by killer robots. Then we just sneak onboard and hope that Mantah Corp doesn't notice seven kids on the plane until we're back home?" Kenji asked.
"Uh, yeah," Darius answered. "Supply plane it is," Kenji said with a sigh. "Don't think about it too hard, buddy," I said, patting him on the back.
"Right. All we need is a solid, detailed plan." Mae said. "Give me a minute; I'm sure I'll come up with something," she said after a moment; we all just kind of smiled at each other.
"Um, Mae?" Darius said as the doctor began to mumble. "I have an idea that could work. Here's how it'll go down," Darius said and then proceeded to explain his entire plan until Yaz interrupted him.
"Sorry, can I not be on dino duty?" she asked. "But you're the fastest," Ben stated. "I know. Like by a lot. But I stayed up pretty late last night, and I could use a break." Yaz explained.
Yeah, something was up with her, I thought to myself.
"No prob. I'll be Team Dino." Kenji said before sneezing. "Uh, are you catching a cold? Because the last thing I need is to get sick," Brooklynn asked, looking at Kenji, concerned. "Me? Sick? No way!" Kenji exclaimed. "I'm a hundred percent, all day, every day." He added.
"Wow," I muttered as everyone looked at Kenji. "Okay. So, Kenji will keep an eye on the Rexes." Darius said, beginning to explain his plan again.
I ended up helping Brooklynn and Sammy carry the tainted food from where it was on the feeding platform, which was thankfully the safest job.
Something didn't go exactly as planned because Darius, Ben, Mae, Yaz, and Kenji all came running to where we were.
"What happened?" I asked Ben as he walked over to me. "Kenji coughed and woke up the dinos. I think everything still worked, though," he explained, and I nodded. "Kenji really is getting a cold, isn't he?" I asked, and Ben just nodded as we smiled at each other.
"It worked!" I heard Mae exclaim as her tablet beeped. "The plane will be here in three hours with new food and replacement parts. You lot are almost home." She continued.
"Oh yeah!" Darius exclaimed, and he and Brooklynn high-fived as we all began to cheer. Ben and I just looked at each other with a smile. Neither of us was the type to cheer like the others not anymore, but both of us were extremely happy, I could tell.
Unfortunately, our celebration was short-lived as an electronic sound ran through the air, and Yaz let out a yelp. It was one of the BRADS, and it had found us.
Mae tried to get it to stand down, but it overrode the command. "Run! Everyone, run!" Mae yelled, and we all started to sprint. "Keep left. The airlock to the supply plane is just up ahead." I heard Mae yell to us.
We sprinted to the airlock and watched as it opened and two more BRADS sprung out at us. We dodged them and then began running again. "There's another airlock not far from here. The only challenge is," Mae began, but then one of the BRADS began to shoot at us.
We reached the airlock and got inside before any BRADS caught us. Once the doors closed, I collapsed on the floor while everyone else caught their breath.
I watched as Mae walked over to the keypad by the door and did something. "Okay, okay, that should slow them down," she said, but she was wrong. I watched as the light turned green and the door began to open. "Or not," Mae said. Quickly, I hopped up, and I felt Ben grab my hand; I turned to him, squeezed his hand, and nodded at him before letting go and preparing to run again. We all started to run down the hall.
"Really beginning to hate these guys." Mae said. "Beginning?" Kenji yelled sarcastically.
"How do we stop the BRADS from following us?" Sammy yelled as we reached our exit. "I have an idea! You guys go on ahead!" Brooklynn yelled as she stood in front of the airlock.
I knew what she was thinking. We quickly jumped through the airlock; a moment later, so did Brooklynn.
I looked around and realized the snow was all around us, and it was Freezing. I felt Ben move closer to me, and I was thankful as I felt the heat radiating off his body.
"I thought you said this was the way to the plane." Yaz said to Mae. "It is after we get through this biome. It's cold but still uninhabited, except for us. We'll be safe," she continued to explain.
"And here I thought Nublar was the trippiest place I had ever seen." I heard Darius say. "I am definitely not dressed for this." Ben said, and I giggled, earning a glare from him, but then he moved closer to me as I lopped my arm around his for warmth.
"None of us are. And this is definitely not helping my cold." Kenji responded, and Brooklynn gave him a look before moving away from him. "I mean our cold. We're, we're all could! Because this is!" Kenji exclaimed, trying to get Brooklyn to come back.
"Sorry, Kenji, but nobody wants your germs," I yelled over at him.
"Ah, who cares? I've never even seen snow before! It is so pretty." Sammy exclaimed. "You do realize that is Mantah Corp snow," Yaz said as Sammy opened her mouth to catch snowflakes.
"Yeah, pretty or not, none of us will last very long out here." Darius stated.
"Yes, we will. We've got these." Mae piped up as she pointed at two huge snow vehicles that I assumed were for moving supplies.
We quickly cheered and jumped in as we started towards where the plane was supposed to land.
I went with Sammy, Brooklynn, and Kenji, who was freezing to death even though the heat was turned up all the way.
"Are you sure you turned the heat up all the way?" he asked Brooklynn, who was driving. "Yes. Just think of someplace warm." She suggested, and Kenji sat down with a sigh.
I stared out the window, and my mind began to wander. I didn't have much hope about us actually getting home; something was going to happen. I could feel it. I could feel it in my bones. I had just excepted at this point that no matter what happened, something was always going to keep us from getting back to our families.
And I knew the second I let myself hope that maybe things would be different; it would hurt so much more when it wasn't when it was just the same as everyone's time.
I was snapped out of my thoughts as Brooklynn began to slow down. "What is that?" Brooklynn asked; I looked out the window to see what she was looking at and saw a dinosaur out in the snow.
"I'm not sure what he is, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't wanna be here," Kenji said. We watched as Mae got out and walked toward the creature; a few moments later, it collapsed.
Sammy hopped out and walked over to it, and I followed. "he's going into hypothermic shock. I have to move him out of here somehow. Or he'll die," I heard Mae say as I walked over to her Darius and Sammy.
"What about the supply plane? It will be here in under an hour," Yaz asked as she walked up next to me. "Yaz is right. You kids take the gliders and keep going. I'll figure out a way to get Pierce back into the desert Biome where he belongs." Mae said softly.
"You can't just move a 4,000-pound dinosaur by yourself," Darius replied. "How about some of us go ahead and stall the plane, and the rest of us can stay back and help?" Brooklynn offered. "The only way we'll move a dinosaur that big is with both vehicles," Darius explained, and I let out a sigh; here it comes, I thought to myself.
"If we're going to save him, we all have to help. We're in." Darius stated. And I just sighed again before grabbing Ben's hand. "Everyone okay with this?" I asked softly, and everyone exchanged looks.
"Sure. I'm not going to let Mantah Corp hurt one more creature." Sammy said, standing next to me. "Yeah, if something like this ever happened to Bumpy," Ben said, and I couldn't help but smile. "I guess," I said with a nod.
"We may be on another freaky dino island freezing out butts off in an arctic biome, but we're still Camp Cretaceous," Brooklynn said. I looked over at Yaz and watched as she took a deep breath before looking up. "We got you Doc," she said, smiling at Mae.
We all quickly worked together to load Pierce onto a makeshift sled and pull him with the two gliders. Once we got him on the sled and connected it to the gliders, we all hopped back into the vehicles.
Everything seemed to be going well until Mae's glider stalled. Brooklynn slowed down to see what was going on; I looked out the window to see that a BRAD had hit the glider and knocked out the power temporarily. Then suddenly, the glider started up again, and we began to speed away, the BRAD hot on our tail.
"Well, this is great!" I yelled as the BRAD chased us. "The airlocks straight ahead." I heard Mae's voice say over the coms. "Come on. Just a little faster." Brooklynn coaxed the glider as she tried to speed up.
Then all of a sudden, she lost control, and we began to slide. "What's happening!" I yelled, leaning forward. "We're on a frozen lake," Sammy yelled back.
"Exactly how frozen is it?" Kenji asked as we saw cracking ice a ways away. We began to slow down, and as I looked out the window, I saw the BRAD attacking the other glider until Yaz knocked it into the lake. We all let out a cheer before the gliders came to a stop.
Everyone quickly hopped out. Brooklynn and I ran to open the airlock while the others coaxed Pierce the rest of the way.
Once we were back inside the halls, we all took a deep breath. "He'll be fine once he warms up," Mae said as Darius petted Pierce. "Now get out of here! You've got a plane to catch." She yelled as we all began to run down the hall and to the airlock.
She opened the door for us, and Darius stopped. "We'll miss you, Dr. Mae," he said with a smile. We all said our goodbye as we ran past her. We ran down a hill but right as we reached the cliff, we saw the plane fly past us.
We all began to scream and yell. "Wait, don't leave!" everyone yelled and waved their hands, but I knew the plane wouldn't see us. I sighed and walked over to one of the trees; I watched as everyone slowly stopped yelling.
Everyone began to break; I watched as Darius looked around at all of us. "Look, guys, I know this isn't what we wanted, but," he began, and Ben placed his hand on Darius's shoulder. "Darius." He said and then paused. "Let's go check on Mae," he said, and the two of them began to walk off.
I sighed and closed my eyes. I listed as Brooklynn yelled at Kenji after he sneezed. Then I heard Sammy ask Yaz if she was okay.
"No, Sammy. I'm not," she replied. I opened my eyes and looked over at the others. "I keep having nightmares. I thought it would all be okay if we could just get off Nublar," she explained. "But here we are, still being hunted by robots now, like, like dinosaurs weren't enough," she added. "Oh, Yaz," Sammy said, moving closer to her. "Even if I do get home someday. I'm afraid I'll never feel normal again." Yaz finished.
"But you're not alone. I've been having nightmares, too. Once you've stared down a Dimorphodon, it's hard to forget." Brooklynn said, sitting down next to Yaz. "I mean die is right there in the name, "she added. "My nightmares are usually about fire-breathing Compies that can also read your mind," Sammy said, and I couldn't help but smile at how ridiculous that sounded.
"My worst one is getting stuck on the middle seat of an airplane and having to sure the armrest with a Scorpius Rex," Kenji said with a chuckle.
"I don't even know if I believe we will make it home anymore." I finally said, and everyone looked back at me. "You want to know what my nightmare is. It's all of you gone and me alone on the island surrounded by monsters." I said as I stood up and walked over to stand next to Kenji. Everyone looked at me sympathetically, and I just stared at the ground.
"I get saving Pierce was the right thing to do, but stopping and helping dinosaurs cost us getting home, again!" Yaz said after a moment. "I'm just tired. And I miss my mom," she added, tears running down her face.
I couldn't help but let a few tears trickle down my cheek as I stared out at the ocean. I knew Kenji was looking at me, but I didn't care. I understood what Yaz was going through. I was exhausted, and I just wanted to be able to sleep without being afraid I was going to die. I wanted to cuddle up next to Ben without staying awake to ensure he was safe.
I wanted to go home.