Yaz and I were running when the bright light startle us. We yelped and fell to the ground. The motorcycle swerved out of the way.
"Yaz, Chris?" We looked up and saw Brooklynn and Kenji. They got off their bike and ran to us.
"We got big news!" Brooklynn said.
"You're not gonna believe-" I cut Kenji off.
"Mitch and Tiff have Darius and Sammy!" I said. "He's leading them to the water hole so they can kill the dinosaurs!" Yaz continued.
"Darius would never do that," Kenji said. I gasped as I remember the bawled up piece of paper. I unfolded it and my eyes manded on the red 'X'.
"You're right, he's them here," I said, pointing to the X.
Main Street.
Home of the T-rex.
"Wait, Chris, Yaz you need to know-" Yaz cut Kenji off. "No time, we need to know Darius's plan."
"What?" Brooklynn questioned, "He's taking them to Main Street?"
We heard a loud growl. Yaz and I turned in alarm. She fell back and tried scooting away. I grabbed her under her shoulders and heaved her up. A familiar teal Ankylosaurus emerged from the bushes.
"Bumby?" Yaz and I said in unison.
We looked up and saw... Ben.
"Hey," He said, hopping off Bumby's back, "Chris, Yasmina." Yaz rushed forward and gave him in a big hug.
"You're a hugger now, Fadoula?" Ben questioned.
"I... still... have mixed feelings about it," Yaz said, breaking the hug.
"Move, my turn," I said, lightly shoving Yaz. I engulfed Ben in a giant hug. "Woah, missed you too Chris," he said. "Never, ever, scare me like that again," I said, letting him go. "I'll add it to the list," Ben replied.
"Yeah, yeah, we have been trying to you about it, but more pressing news, Darius isn't taking Tiff and Mitch to the watering hole," Brooklynn said, handing Ben the map.
"What? Why is he taking them to the T-rex?" Ben questioned.
It clicked. "Terrain advantage," I said, "Darius and Sammy know the land, Tiff and Mitch don't. It'll much easier to lose them on Main Street then in the jungle."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go help them!" Yaz exclaimed.
"Yes! Bumby and I are ready to roll!" Ben shouted.
"Uh, big problemo, there's no way we'll make it to Main Street before they do," Kenji pointed out.
"Well, there is one obvious short cut," Brooklynn said, motioning to the ground.
"Down there? You must be joking, don't you remember the last time?" Kenji questioned, "Not only is it dark and creepy, but we almost died! Nope! No go for Kenji!" Yaz and I looked at each other.
♤
"Why did you talk me into to this!" Kenji cried as we raced down the tunnel. He gripped tighter onto Brooklynn. Yaz and I were on Bumby with Ben.
"We're doing this!" Brooklynn cheered. Kenji was giving directions.
"Left!" He cried. Brooklynn slowly turned the corner and we followed. "Now right! Right!" Brooklynn sharply turned the corner.
"Could you do those turns with a little less murder?" Kenji asked. Brooklynn hit the brakes as we approached the gates. Ben, Yaz, and I hopped off Bumby and Ben tapped the gate.
"Let's take this down Bumps," Ben said. Bumby ran forward and hit the gate with her tail. Nothing. Bumby hit it again. Still nothing.
"Yeah I don't think Wild Child and his Amazing Dino are going to punch down that gate," Yaz stated.
"Okay, maybe Bumby just needs a little pep talk," Kenji said. He got off the bike and walked to Bumby, cupping his hands around her face. "You're not gonna let let some door stand in your way, are you, Bumby?" He questioned, "You break barriers, barriers don't break you." Bumby nudged him. "What do we do now?" Bumby hit the gate again. Nothing.
"It's not budging," Ben said as Brooklynn approached the gate. Suddenly, a clang was heard and we looked around.
"¿Que demonios fue eso?" (What the hell was that) I said. I picked at the skin around my fingers.
"There it is again," Brooklynn mumbled. We then heard a whirring and, reluctantly, followed the noise.
"Tell me again why we are following the weird noise? What are we? White people in a horror movie?" I questioned. Brooklynn and Ben cast me a look. "Don't act like I'm wrong," I snipped. Ben shrugged while Brooklynn hid her giggle.
We followed the noise to a door. "If there's electricity down here, we could find a way to raise that gate and follow the hum," Brooklynn said. She took out the keycard and opened the door to reveal a cold hallway.
"Woah it's cold enough down here to-" "Freeze flowers," Brooklynn said, cutting Ben off.
"Is that a thing people say now?" Ben asked, confused. "You missed a lot," I said. We all continued down the hallway and followed the hum towards a door.
"It's coming from here," Brooklynn said. She then opened the door with the keycard and we all walked inside the dark room.
"Wow, what is this place?" Yaz questioned.
"Oh snap! This must be, like, some kind of secret backup power center. My dad might not even know about this," Kenji informed.
"We gotta find a way to raise that gate and get to Sammy and Darius. Start looking," Brooklynn said. We all looked around for a way to raise the gate.
"We gotta get the power on," Yaz said. "No shit Sherlock," I snipped.
"None of these are the right button," Ben said.
"Oh! One of them has to be! I once helped a a Dutch seamstress find an actual needle in an actual haystack. I can find this," Brooklynn said.
Kenji flipped a switch in the power box and the lights came on. "The power box," I said, "It was so obvious." "Kenji you did it," Brooklynn said.
"Natch," Kenji said, grinning. Brooklynn hit a few switches and the cameras came online.
"Now where are they?" Brooklynn questioned.
"You guys look! They're right there!" Yaz exclaimed, pointing at the screen with Darius and Sammy on it.
"We can see you!"
"Yeah! Yes!"
"They're still alive!"
"Finally!"
We all cheered as we saw that they were OK. Or... so we thought.
We gasped as we saw Tiff and Mitch on another screen. "Shoot! Shoot, no! Darius! Sammy! Behind you!" Brooklynn tried speaking through the speaker but it wasn't working.
"Darius! Sammy! Guys!" Kenji yelled.
"They can't here us," Ben sighed.
"Where is the stupid speaker button?" Brooklynn exclaimed.
"Hey, wave if you can here us!" Yaz yelled. Brooklumn was scrolling through the cameras when she gasped. A camera showed the T-rex walking away from her lair.
"Oh no," Brooklynn mumbled.
We watched as Rexy charged at Tiff and Mitch, scaring them away. She saw Darius and Sammy and snapped at them, but got a gun case stuck in her teeth. Darius and Sammy ran and hid.
Mitch tries to grab the gun case but Rexy swung him around and sent him flying. Rexy turned her attention to Tiff, snarling. She charged at Tiff, who ran off to Mitch. The two hid in a small alcove and Rexy charged at them. She got her head stuck and she couldn't reach them.
Mitch then switched on his taser and zapped Rexy. We all could tell she was in pain as she tried wriggling herself out. She then lifted her head abruptly, breaking some off the wall, and shook herself. She started walking back to her lair.
"That's it, be a good girl and go home," Brooklynn mumbled.
Rexy then stopped. She turned her head and it looked like she sniffed the air. She started walking to where Darius and Sammy were hiding, which was under a table.
Rexy knocked over the table and cornered Darius and Sammy, but she couldn't reach them.
We all started pushing buttons, trying to figure out a way to help Darius and Sammy. "There's gotta be another way to help," I mumbled, pushing more buttons.
"Fence control, power to retail shop, automatic advertising loop... hologram?" Kenji and Brooklynn looked at each other. "Hologram!" Kenji pushed the button and a hologram T-rex started playing on a loop. Rexy turned her attention and started roaring at it. That gave Darius and Sammy enough time to run away.
Kenji then found the speaker button. "Testing, testing. Party people! What what!" He exclaimed, "Greetings humans, it is I, your leader."
Brooklynn shoved Kenji out of the way. "We found a backup generator and turned the power back on," she explained.
We looked at the screen. Darius and Sammy were talking, but we couldn't hear them. "We can't hear you. What are you trying to say? What happened to Tiff and Mitch?" Brooklynn questioned.
Darius and Sammy started waving their arms around, still talking. "I really wished I knew how to read lips," I said. "We still can't hear you. Act it out!" Brooklynn said.
"Oh, I love this game!" Kenji said, "Oh, okay... uh, TV shows? Books. A song!"
Yaz shoved Kenji out of the way. "A circle! Dirt! They're drinking... uh, water?" Yaz guessed.
"The watering hole! They're going to the watering hole!" Brooklynn exclaimed. Darius nodded while Sammy gave a thumbs up.
Darius then acted like he was holding a gun, and shooting something.
"Mitch and Tiff know where it is," Yaz said.
"And they're going to kill the dinosaurs," I realized.
**********
Dun dun duuuuunnnn! What will happen next? Until next chapter!
Fulcrum out!