Everyone was panicking. Sammy had collapsed and was fading in and out of consciousness.
"Somebody get bandages!" Darius yelled, frantically looking around for them.
"Guys..." Kenji said, nervously eyeing the blood soaking Sammy's shirt.
"Sammy!" Yaz yelled, kneeling to Sammy's side.
I kneeled beside her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Even though I seemed calm, I was freaking out on the inside. Right now, Sammy was on death's doorstep, deaf to the warnings, and blind to the signs.
"Guys, the quills are poisonous," Brooklynn said, going to Sammy's other side holding bandages, "We've got to take them out." Yaz and I nodded as we each grabbed one of the quills.
"Sorry Sammy, this is going to hurt," I said before we all pulled the quills out.
Sammy yelled in pain, which made my ears want to bleed. Seeing your friend in pain like this, and knowing you can't do anything, was the worse kind of torture.
Brooklynn lifted up Sammy's shirt, to see her wound swollen and turning an ugly green purple color. She quickly wrapped the bandages around Sammy's waist, hoping to stop the bleeding.
"Keep pressure on the wound so it's forms a clot. That will stop the bleeding," I informed, remembering what they taught us in military school.
Brooklynn nodded and applied pressure on Sammy's wound.
"Sammy? Sammy!" Yaz yelled as Sammy blacked out. Kenji put a pillow under Sammy's head to support her.
Sammy's skin gained a yellow and green tint as she shivered, her face distorted in discomfort.
"Taking out the quills wasn't enough. The venom is already in her system," Brooklynn informed.
I scanned my memory, trying to remember how to treat certain poisonous animal bites. Diamond back rattlesnakes... no... Cottonmouth... no... Box jellyfish, no. Something clicked. Scorpius Rex... a certain type of fish.
"The Scorpius Rex must have Scorpionfish DNA in it," I realized. Everyone looked at me.
"Are you sure?" Ben asked. I nodded. "I'm certain," I answered, "I only seen them through images on Google, but the quills looked identical to the Scorpius Rex's."
"Well, now that we know a little more, we need an antidote," Darius pointed out.
"Oh yeah, an 'antidote'. Yeah that will be easy to find for a dinosaur that no one even knew existed," Kenji said sarcastically.
"Maybe the medical station has something?" Ben suggested.
"Doubt it," Brooklynn said, shaking her head.
"Well, Wu must have made something for it. He may be an idiot, but he's not stupid," I said.
Brooklynn then gasped as she remembered something. "The video in Dr. Wu's lab. The Scorpius attacked him. They have some sort of shot from a red vile. I'm pretty sure-"
Yaz ran up to Brooklynn and grabbed her by the shoulders, cutting her off. "Where is this lab?"
Brooklynn pulled out a map and handed it to Yaz. "Near the raptor paddock," she answered.
"Take care of Sammy while I'm gone," Yaz said, running towards the gate.
"Yaz! Take this!" I yelled, tossing her a baseball bat. She caught in mid air and thanked me, determination on her face. Yaz then ran off into the forest.
"This is nuts! She can't outrun that thing," Ben pointed out.
"We have to help her somehow," Brooklynn said.
"Well, what do we know about the Scorpius Rex?" Darius asked.
"It's straight up terrifying, poisonous, it climbs, breaths like a pug with a cold, and moves weird," Kenji answered. He then moved his arms like it, making a throaty growling sound before coughing.
"When the lighting hit that tree-" Brooklynn started.
"It didn't run away, it went towards it. Like it was hypnotized or something," Darius finished.
"Great, so, we just need a really big fire," I said, "That'll be easy to make."
"We need an explosion. Bigger, louder, and fierier," Darius said.
"I'm in. I know this jungle better than anyone. Besides," Ben slung his arms around me and Darius's shoulders, "Bigger. Louder. Fierier. Those are all my favorite words. Try to keep up." Ben then went over to the gate.
"Count me in too," I said.
I grabbed my bow and arrows. Thank goodness I made myself that quiver. I strapped the quiver I made around my hips before putting a baker's dozen of arrows in there. I strapped my bow to my back and joined Ben at the gates.
Darius then joined us and the three of us walked into the jungle, Ben leading.
"Plan? What's the plan?" I asked, looking around.
"Well, you know I spent a lot of time out here alone." Darius lightly winced at that. "I was able to memorize most of the island. So, I know exactly where we are headed," Ben explained.
"And where exactly are we heading?" Darius asked.
"To the solution that will get Scorpius focused on one spot, far away from Yaz, or the camp," Ben explained.
Shadows moving across the ground caused Ben to shove me and Darius to the ground. Pteranodons were soaring high above the ground. That made my thoughts dwell on Leia. Where was she? Is she far away from the Scorpius Rex?
Ben handed us giant palm leaves. "Hold these over your head if you don't wanna get snatched," he said. I nodded and did as he said.
Ben then led us towards a bunch of bushes, where he pulled out a full can of gas.
"Where'd you get that?" I asked.
"Oh, turns out that we had enough gas to fuel the boat so I stashed what gas we had left away. Saving it for a situation like this," Ben explained.
"Ben you poor, disturbed child," Darius said with a smile.
Ben smiled back and tossed the can to me. I caught it with ease and looked at it in amusement.
"So, we got the gas, now what's the plan?" I asked.
Ben shrugged. "My plan lasted as long as getting the can."
"Mine lasted as long as creating the distraction. I haven't really chosen a setting," Darius said.
I rolled my eyes. "Y'all really helpless sometimes," I said, "Maybe we can use Lookout Point."
"That's... actually a good idea," Ben said.
"Alright, Lookout Point it is. Chris, lead the way," Darius said. I nodded, put the gas can in his hands, and led the way.
We finally arrived at Lookout Point. Ben pulled a dried out vine on the ground and tied it around the gas can. He then put it in a gondola and lit the vine with matches from his dork pouch.
"You might wanna cover your ears. It's gonna be a pretty loud explosion," Ben said. Darius and I covered our ears a waited for the explosion.
"Let's make things go boom!" I eagerly yelled.
A few seconds passed and a small pop was heard. The gas exploded, but it didn't explode how we wanted it. We lowered our hands and looked at it in disappointment.
"What? But... huh?" Ben questioned. We the started to panic.
"I don't understand! That should've been enough!" Ben said frantically, looking in all directions.
"Ben! We are out of time!" I yelled, "The Scorpius is gonna get Yaz and Sammy's gonna die and it will be all our faults!"
"Is there any more gas?" Darius asked.
"There should be some more stashed away a few klicks from here," Ben answered.
"What's a klick!?" Darius asked.
"It's a military measurement unit that means kilometers," I answered.
Ben and Darius looked at me. "You asked, I answered," I said.
"Well, maybe-" Darius was cut off when Lookout Point blew up, like a volcano.
"Woah," I breathed. The distant howl of the Scorpius could be heard, meaning it was running away from Yaz. Darius started cheering, me joining in.
"Take that ya big ugly dinosaur!" Darius yelled.
A flaming piece of debris came flying down and we all ducked. "Maybe we should go," I said. "Good idea," Ben agreed and we all shuffled off.
The run back to camp was nerve wracking. The Scorpius Rex's roars were closing in all around us. We stopped and nervously eyed around.
"That thing should've been at Lookout Point already," Ben said.
I notched an arrow in my bow and pulled it back, looking around the jungle. For some reason, my sense were heightened. The chirping of bugs wasn't there, and the sounds of dinosaurs were also gone.
"Guys, run now," I said. We then all took off back towards camp.
We finally got there and ran towards everyone else. "We got here as soon as we..." Ben trailed off at the sight of Sammy... not moving.
"Is she..." I trailed off, not wanting to continue.
"Sammy, please, please don't go. I-I'm sorry about what I said. Just forget what I said. You're the greatest friend I've ever had. Please, please don't go," Yaz said, choking on her own tears and holding Sammy's hand.
Ben turned away, Kenji put his hands on his hand, tears in his eyes, and Brooklynn covered her mouth, trying to keep herself from sobbing.
My lip quivered as Darius brought me into a side hug. He squeezed me gently as his own eyes filled with tears.
Sammy suddenly started coughing. Everyone's faces lit up as Sammy slowly opened her eyes.
"Hey Yaz," she greeted tiredly.
"Hey Sammy," Yaz replied.
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I had no idea what a klick was, so I had to search it up lol. Thankful we live in the 21st century. Anyways I hoped you enjoyed! Until next chapter!
Fulcrum out!