"Through the door, hurry!"
The Scorpios above us screeched, still stuck behind the glass but searching for a weakness in it. Seeing that there was a hole a few feet to the left, it wouldn't be long before it found one.
We were all fast to run past the unconscious Scorpios and out through the front doors.
...Only to be met by a velociraptor.
"Back inside, back inside!"
The blue raptor tries to push through all of our combined strength pushing to close the door again. It's claws peak through the door, along with its bloody teeth and striped head. As hard as we all try, it's not enough, and we're all roughly shoved back as the dinosaur finally slams the door wide open and barges in.
Kenji and I, flat on our asses, crawl back frantically as the creature roars and hisses, exposing its hunting knives sprouting from its hands.
I remember what Darius said an hour ago about where we were. Where we are now.
We're in her territory. She's pissed.
The raptor chirps once more, then, in the blink of a second, lurches forward, pushing on her back legs to launch into the air. I barely manage to roll out of the way of her landing, getting my elbow scraped by a rock. Darius is quick to pull me up, while Brooklyn picks up Kenji and we all spread out, breaking away from each other.
The raptor snarls as it's eyes switch from Darius and I, to everyone else. She doesn't seem to have an idea of who to take down next, knowing the possibility of letting the other intruders go free was a high risk no matter who she attacked.
I squeeze Darius' hand as we slowly back into a wall.
Ben, Yaz, and Sammy all huddle close as they too fall back against the back wall of the room.
Kenji and Brooklyn slowly, ever so quietly, take a few steps up the stairs.
There is tense silence screaming through the room.
And then...
Glass breaking.
Roaring.
Screeching.
Screaming.
Crashing.
The Scorpios finally made its way into the chaos by leaping in. However, by doing so, it shattered almost every glass window above and destabilized the ceiling. Bits and pieces of stone collapsed, one striking me in the head hard, but not large or heavy enough to do anything but bring an instant headache on. Darius and I's hands were instantly separated in the midst of this, and the boy fell back and cried out in fear as the Scorpios took a step toward him.
"Get away from him!" I scream at it. I grab a broken piece of cement from the ground and hurl it at the thing's head. It screeches and whirls it's head to glare at me with a small hiss, revealing its ugly teeth.
I'm about to shout at it again, but then another, different cry echoes through the room. A blur of blue and grey launches through my vision, and suddenly, the Scorpios is too preoccupied to come after us.
The blue velociraptor and the Scorpios tangle around each other in a brutal battle of strength. Darius and I hold on to each other as we watch them wrestle.
"Guys, we have to get out of here!" Brooklyn shouts. "The whole place is collapsing!"
And that it was; the roof was denting downward, preparing to tear open, and pieces of glass and such were already raining down on us in heaps. Darius tugs me forward, where I meet Ben and grab his hand with my other free one. We luckily make it out, turning just in time to see the velociraptor escape the fight and jump out of the building. The Scorpios screeches our way one last time, before it's crushed with its unconscious twin. Dust explodes from the destruction in waves that instantly surround us.
I let out a few repetitive coughs that eventually settle, along with the fog. Beyond the curtain, the full wreckage of the center is revealed.
There is nothing left of it.
The velociraptor tilts its head at us, chirping softly, and showing no sign of aggression as it had earlier. The animal then turns, and runs back into the jungle.
It's quiet for a moment. We all stand still in front of the rubble. Darius' hand clasps mine tight, and I gently squeeze to reassure both him and I.
Kenji turns around and walks away.
Everyone soon follows suit, sans Darius and I. I frown, looking up at his troubled face.
"Hey, are you okay?"
His lower lip is clawed beneath his teeth as he looks away solemnly. He doesn't answer. Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder.
"Come on," Ben says. "I'll walk you guys to the boat."
Oh...right.
I completely forgot.
I turn to my brother and feel my stomach twist. He gives me a warm, assuring smile, but it doesn't do anything to make me feel better. My hand grasps his and squeezes, and I give him a fake smile.
{}{}{}{}
As we're all walking back to the dock, Darius and I stray behind a bit from the group. Ben, walking next to Bumpy with the rest of the group ahead, would occasionally glance back, frowning slightly. I noticed multiple expressions in his visage that expressed...regret, maybe? Sadness? Guilt?
Hurt?
When he noticed I had noticed him, he quickly turned away again. I was about to approach him when I felt Darius' hand move up to my shoulder.
"You do know he's coming with us, right?"
My eyebrows furrowed.
"What?"
I turn to see him smiling.
"He would never let you go. I know that. You too are...close, you're important to each other. I guarantee that he'll realize he's making a mistake as soon as we start to depart."
"You think?"
"I do. You two are a pack, and you shouldn't be separated. He'll realize he can be his new self anywhere he goes, and...he'll join us again. I promise."
"Thank you," I whisper. He leans in and pecks me on the cheek. A crimson glow ignites on my face, and I feel it spread throughout my upper half.
In the corner of my eye, I could've sworn I saw Ben looking back at us with heartbreak.
{}{}{}{}
"Well...this is it."
Sniffling, Sammy brushes a hand back and pulls her hair behind her ear.
"I know I've asked you this a hundred times on the walk back, but are you sure you wanna stay behind, Ben?"
My brother grins softly, awkwardly. And I feel a pinge in my chest.
God, Darius had better be right...
"Yeah, man. After everything we just went through, it's absolutely bonkers that you don't wanna leave!"
Ben sighs. "Well, okay, I know, I know it seems that way, but the Scorpiuses are gone now. I'll be okay. You guys are my family, but this island is my home. I know how to survive here."
Tears spring to my eyes.
"But what about mom, a-and California? I thought that was home."
Ben doesn't say anything, looking conflicted. Inevitably, though, he pulls me forward into him and wraps his arms right around my shoulders. Mine echo instantly as I begin to cry into his shoulder.
"You know I'll always love you, right?" He says into my ear. I nod through the tears.
"And I'll always love you, too."
If you did you wouldn't have even considered leaving me.
We have to pull apart at some point. It hurts, it hurts so bad.
I just have to hope that Darius was right, and that he'd change his mind.
But we board the boat. We huddled up in a tight group hug, first. We stand on the main deck, Kenji going up to the captain's cabin. The boat engine starts as a light rain begins to sprinkle. We start to back away from the deck, Ben's small figure slowly shrinking as a fog settles in.
I hold my breath, growing more fearful as I see him turn around, disappearing.
"Darius...a-are you sure?" I whisper.
The fact that he looks wavered is a bad sign.
"Are we really doing this?" Sammy says. "Are we really leaving him here?"
"Just wait," Darius tries to assure with a shaky voice. "Just...hold on."
The rain has picked up sizably as a dense fog surrounds the island. We can still see the main deck sticking out, reaching, as if begging for us to come back.
I ignore the water soaking my hair and my clothes, and clutch onto Darius as tight as I can.
Come on, Ben. Please come back. I can't leave you. I can't lose you again!
It's hard to tell if it's the rain dripping down my face, or tears.
I'm starting to lose hope.
But then...
"Guys, wait!"
Darius and I both gasp.
I see him, emerging from beyond the dock and racing down the steps onto the cement. Sammy squeals as Yaz grabs her arm with a wide smile, while Brooklyn's leaping up and down.
"No, no, no, no, no! Wait, guys! Wait!"
"Kenji," I scream, "Stop the boat!"
He gives me a thumbs up, his own grin plastered on as he dips back inside to pull the break. I turn back just in time to see my brother leap from the end of the dock into the stormy waters. My eyes blow up.
"Ben!"
We all run down the steps to the lower dock, watching him swim as fast as he can towards us. Darius and I are the first ones to reach the platform. We slide to our knees and throw our hands out. Ben is quick to grasp on with a grunt, and it's like all of the life that had been brutally sucked out of me was now shoved right back in.
With as much effort as I can, I help Darius pull Ben back up, and fall back along with him with a tired gasp. We let us all breathe and settle for a second, allowing the rain to keep hitting us like waterfalls of bullets.
When we do calm down, we all hop to our feet and help Ben ascend to the second floor, where everyone's waiting.
I hold on tight to Ben's hand, never wanting to let go again.
"I-I guess I can of realized that since I found myself on the island, I can take that new-found self somewhere else now," he chuckles. We all look around knowingly, smug smiles on all our lips. I would say, though, that mine was the weakest of them all.
How could you have given up on him so easily? What kind of a sister are you?
Ben frowns.
"You don't look surprised to see me."
Brooklyn hugs him, which unintentionally pushes me aside. I feel my heart plummet in my chest, but the reason feels too unclear. Everyone starts to acknowledge that they'd known he'd come back — well, aside from Sammy, who looked completely surprised. She lets go of it quickly and gives Ben her own embrace.
Why were you so quick to believe he'd leave you?
Why were you even doubting Darius in the slightest?
What sister does that?
"Blake?"
I'm shaken from my self disgust when Ben comes over and pulls me into another hug, one I instantly sink into as uncontrollable sobs begin to leave me.
"I was so scared you wouldn't come back," I admittedly painfully. I waited for him to push me away, waited for the hurt and the yelling about how I was a horrible twin for ever thinking such a thing. Instead, though, I only feel his arms grip me tighter.
"I never should've considered it. I'm so sorry," he apologizes.
I don't reply, and we stay as we are for a moment, wet, soaked, and holding onto each other closely.
Then there's a sudden flash of light that separates us from each other and the warmth.
I, along with everyone else, gasp and look up to where the abrupt spotlight came from. To my shock, three helicopters are hovering above us, spinning to face us and shining their rays of blinding whiteness over the boat. My hands clutch onto both Ben and Darius as we watch in astonishment.
Then, there's a crackle coming from one of the copters.
"Attention, you on the boat," a woman's grainy voice commands. "Return to the dock and cut the engine immediately."
I could've screamed right then and there had I not still been caught up in the randomness of the situation.
Of course, we were just about to leave, but then we had to be interrupted again. Again!
"Who are these guys?" Darius mutters.
I'm wondering the same thing.