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Camille slowly regained consciousness, her eyes blinking open to a blinding green light.
As her vision cleared, she found herself in a spacious yet confining glass cage identical to the other one holding the rest of the campers. The other one, her friends! Panic washed over Camille as she tried to sit up, but a searing pain in her chest jolted through her body, reminding her of the recent electric shock she endured.
"All accounted for," a BRAD-X stated blatantly before marching out of the room leaving Camille alone again. She looked around, searching for an exit, her heart pounding in her chest. Her fingers grasped at the smooth and transparent walls, desperately seeking a way out. Camille let out a roar of frustration "No! There has to be a way! I can't stay here!"
She pressed her body against the glass, trying to find any weak points or signs of vulnerability while repeatedly throwing herself at the glass. The burning sensation in her chest intensified with every passing moment, making her feel weak and disoriented.
She tumbled away from the glass, holding her shoulder as she shook it out, "Guys! Anybody? Please, someone...help me!" She screamed as her voice broke yet it was no use, the BRAD-X came marching into the room as a green laser scanned the room before beeping,
Camille stifled out a sigh clearly unable to find an escape, Camille curled into the corner of the cage, her back pressed against the cold glass. Tears threatened to fall down her face as she struggled to hold back sobs, feeling utterly trapped and helpless.
She longed for someone to hear her cries, to free her from this nightmarish predicament. The weight of her circumstances bore down on her, and the realization that escape seemed impossible made her want to break down completely.
She didn't like feeling this way,
She wanted this nightmare to be over,
Camille wanted to go home,
But not her home,
Home.
At the thought of her friends, she heard faint yelling come from beneath her, wait beneath?
"...Camille?" Someone's soft voice echoed throughout the space as the girl pushed out from the corner, looking around in a panic before a hand came to her chest,
"Darius?" She coughed, gripping the searing sensation erupting in her chest before she looked down at the drainage cover, "Oh you've got to be kidding me..."
"Camille!" The voice grew closer and became more recognisable, Camille crouched down and began prying the cover open, "Up here!" She cried out followed by a loud grunt and metal clanging before she plugged her nose,
"You guys smell ravishing down there," She gagged before looking down to see her friends all huddled in the sewers, "I always knew you guys were sewer rats," She grinned,
"Just get down here dingus!" Brooklynn huffed as Camille exhaled, a hand to her chest before she fell for a second before she hit the ground, hard, coughing deeply at the smell invading her senses. Her eyes adjusted to the dimly lit area she could make out the tunnel along with the large body of water running through it and the occasional metal bridges connecting to two paths.
"Come on!" Darius ushered as the group began to follow him down the sewers, cautiously walking around in hopes of finding an exit without running into a BRAD-X that was now searching for them like an assassin.
"I knew from the minute I met him he was gonna be trouble." Ben broke the silence,
"I can't believe I trusted him." Yasmina scoffed as Camille glanced back over her shoulder, walking beside Darius,
"He was all smug in that crisp suit." Brooklynn seemed to add on as Camille didn't know how to react to the information being thrown around she decided to make conversation with Darius instead. Camille stumbled over her feet with her hand clutching her still-aching chest as she tried to distract herself from the pain, "Where about are we heading?"
Darius took a moment to respond, "Anywhere but the BRAD-X..." He murmured out as his voice echoed gently against the grotesquely coloured walls, Camille gradually nodding as she sucked her lips in, provoking her to cough and clutch her pained chest,
"Hey, I'm sorry about your dad..." Darius gazed pitifully at the girl as she softly smiled, "Don't stress it D, I'm just glad to be with you all again..." She painfully exhaled as Darius felt his lips turn upwards before Sammy came running behind them,
"Darius, what do you think?" Sammy hurriedly asked,
"About what?" Darius annoyingly spoke as Camille walked backwards,
"About Kenji." She spat as Darius rolled his eyes moving further ahead, "Whatever you think, Sammy."
"Well, that doesn't help. I obviously don't know what to think," She defeatedly said, Camille held a hand to the girl's shoulder, "Just don't overthink it," Camille gave a reassuring smile before their gaze fell onto Darius sprinting back around the corner followed by green gas filling the sewer,
"A BRAD! Six o'clock!" Darius called as he began running towards the group, Camille gripping Sammy by the hand and yanking her down the path narrowly dodging the edge. As they near the others still down and around a corner Camille sprinted forwards past Sammy and Darius,
"We need to go! BRADs coming!" Camille hurriedly said as she bumped Brooklynn before they got moving, Darius and Sammy sprinting by Camille as she glanced back to see the BRAD on all four running through the glass with laser red eyes.
Camille sprinted after the others as Brooklynn called for them to all turn in so the group followed, Darius, Sammy and Camille glanced back to see the BRAD slip around the corner and continue to eject gas when suddenly Camille was sent flying over a lump which happened to be Sammy who fell flat on her face.
Camille was up on her feet again as Darius ran back to grab Sammy, giving the BRAD time to catch up to them but Camille continued to tumble down the tunnel and follow behind Yasmina. She caught up to them before Ben was the last to slide around a corner, grabbing hold of Camille as he yanked her around.
She faceplanted painfully into the wall but contained her pained groans, Ben exhaled sharply trying to regain his breath, "I think we lost it."
They all sigh in relief before Yasmina's eyes dart around in a panic, "Wait, where are Sammy and Darius?" They all share a gasp in realisation,
"Sammy fell over back there, they must've split off then!" Camille heaved out as she looked around each way of the tunnel that seemed to never end,
"We'll just retrace our steps and try and find them," Brooklynn suggested as they moved down the path they had recently come, Ben huffed as he folded his arms, " It's so dimly lit down here, I can hardly see anything."
Yasmina did a 360 turn, looking all around her, " I think we came from the left. Yeah, I'm pretty sure we took a left turn after the first tunnel..." She pointed over Brooklynn's shoulder at one of the many tunnels,
"Are you sure? I vaguely remember going right to the second tunnel" Brooklynn said with uncertainty,
"Wait, let's think." Camille pressed her fingers to her temples, "We were running away from that robot, and I remember going straight ahead at some point." The girls began talking over the top of one another causing Ben to let out a snort of frustration,
"This is pointless! We're just arguing and confusing ourselves here!" Ben stomped as the girls all quieted down, Yasmina dropping her arms in defeat,
"It's too dark, I can't see anything-" Yasmina exclaimed before the sounds of screams came echoing down the tunnel, "That's them!" Yasmina broke off into a sprint with the others following where the loud noise and commotion were coming from,
They followed the screams and took a sharp turn as they were met with a large machine running in the centre, they all slide to a stop seeing a large dinosaur chasing Darius and Sammy around the platform.
"Come on!" Yasmina encouraged as her eyes fell onto a fallen pipe, they ran on forwards and headed across one of the metal bridges but were blasted with air protruding from a pipe knocking them off their feet,
Yasmina ran forwards and took the pipe of the ground before ducking beside the machine, the other three following her before they waited. Yasmina peaked around the corner and just as Darius and Sammy ran by she jumped out and struck the dinosaur across the face with the pipe before sprinting away back to the paths in the tunnels yet an electrical charge shooting at their feet had them running back to the large machinery.
"Go, go, go, go, go, go!" Brooklynn repeatedly called as the group sprinted back, the BRAD sticking closely behind them while continuously shooting at the kids. They went around and took another tunnel instead, narrowly missing an electrical charge as they turned down the tunnel.
Camille gazed back to see that the BRAD was now being attacked by the dinosaur being torn from its hinges but she had no time to focus on that as she kept on running with the others. Eventually, they were able to safely make it to a platform as they awaited what was next while the platform rose but they all breathed in the fresh air seeing it was one of the biomes.
"Fresh air." Brooklynn exhaled as her senses were cleaned,
"I've never been so happy to be back here." Sammy panted with her hands placed on her hips as everybody took a moment to calm down and get fresh air inside their lungs,
"What kind of dinosaur was that even?" Yasmina heaved with her hands behind her head,
"Looked like a Nothosaurus, I think. Don't know what it was doing down in the sewer, though." Darius said slightly pacing around before he faced the others, Ben stood up after previously sitting down,
"Kenji was probably friends with it, then one day decided he wasn't anymore and locked it in there." Ben's statement caused Brooklynn to scoff as she immediately defended the boy, "Kenji hasn't been on this island long enough to do that.
"We don't know that. Maybe he knew about this place all along" Ben furrowed his brows glaring at Brooklynn,
"Yeah!" Sammy retorted as she then paused, "Wait, that doesn't make sense."
"If Kenji knew about the island then I would've too, does it look like I had any clue of being shot with electricity, no?" Camille glared at Ben as she folded her arms,
"Mr Kon is clearly the bad guy here. He's been manipulating Kenji this whole time." Brooklynn exclaimed before sighing at the dirty looks she was given, "The real Kenji knows my favourite colour."
"Knows how to make us laugh. Yeah, he makes mistakes, but..." She gazed to the ground, "he always does the right thing in the end."
"But," Ben slowly sputtered before he snapped, "What if that's just what he wanted you to think?" Suddenly an argument broke out between the group, yelling over the top of one another as Camille felt it create a stabbing headache in the back of her mind but she was drawn out of her thundering thoughts by Brooklynn screaming loudly,
"Darius, I know you and Kenji are tight. Can you please help me?" Her voice almost broke but Darius was occupied with watching the t-rexes instead of paying attention to his own friends.
He remained silent, mumbling to herself as Brooklynn barked again, "Darius!" This time they caught his attention, "You've been quiet all day. What do you think?" Brooklynn repeated herself as Darius looked at all the displeased faces,
"You wanna know what I think?" Darius raised his voice taking a harsh step forwards, "I... I don't care." He calmed himself quickly, "You've been talking about Kenji all day, and it's gotten us nowhere. We can't worry about him...."
Darius turned on his heel gazing back at the stressed dinosaurs roaring in the background, "That's what I care about, Something's upsetting them, and I'm gonna figure out what it is." Darius looked back to his friends whose faces now showed guilty emotions,
"You can keep talkin' about Kenji if you want. But I'm out." Darius moved back to the tree he was observing from as the group went silent, Sammy dismissed herself and went by Darius, followed by Yasmina and Ben. Brooklynn felt her shoulders drop before she had an arm around her,
"Please don't worry yourself too much B," Camille quietly said to the girl with a frown on her lips as she went to speak again but was caught off by heavy rumbling, the ground beneath them began to shake violently sending them all running to grab hold of something. Each one of them clung to a tree like a koala trying to keep steady as the ground didn't stop.
"What's happening?" Camille cried out as she held a strong grip on the tree alongside Brooklynn and Darius,
"Earthquake!" The boy called up to the girl as Camille widened her eyes, nearly losing her balance before hugging the tree tightly.
"We've been nearly killed by dinosaurs, don't let us die from a stupid earthquake!"
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