The fall.
[Y/N POV]
(alarm blaring)
Attention. All park-goers must report to the South Ferry Dock for immediate evacuation. Last ferry departs in 2 hours, A male voice says over the speakers
"That's it? No explanations? That's all we get?" I ask the universe
"We have to move. The only way we'll make it is if we run."
"Are you sure that's the best way to get there?" Sammy asks, looking at Yaz with concern
"I'm fine. I've competed with a torn ACL. You should be way more worried about Ben and Bumpy."
"What we should all be worried about is catching a boat out of here." Ben pulls out a map of the island that flew to us a while ago. "And naturally, we have a problem" He points to one part of the map. "We're here. The docks are on the southern tip of the island.
"Even if we run at peak Yaz speed, there's no way we'd make the last boat out." Ben confirms
"You don't know that" Sammy says hesitantly.
"Yes, yes I do. I memorized the evacuation plan on the way over." Ben explains
Everyone groans at the bad news.
"Okay so we need another way." Darius says. "Um... can we use those somehow?" He points at the kayaks floating on the water. "Or send someone to tell the ferry people to wait? Or-"
Brooklyn cut him off sarcastically. "Or make a few jetpacks real quick? Oh! We may as well befriend a unicorn!". Brooklyn slumps on the bench. "Face it. It's hopeless"
We will be arriving on Main Street, your destination for fine dining, and shopping at Jurassic World. Followed by stops at the Jurassic World Lagoon and South Ferry Dock, an automative voice says as a monorail train passes by
All of us cheer.
"Monorail! What-what!" Kenji yells
"Mm. Nicely played universe," Brooklyn says
"Hurry!"
We all run to the top of the stands and out of the lagoon.
Ben and Yaz lag behind. "It's nice to have some company back here for once," Ben says
"I'm fine" Yasmina overtakes Ben and reaches us. Ben does too after a few moments.
We run to the stairs going to the monorail but dash back to hide behind a wall. Toro is wandering around there.
"Shh!"
(growling)
Darius signals for us to move once he gets to the other side. Half of us run to him. Halfway there we run back because Toro turns around. He slowly creeps towards our hiding spot.
Darius, seeing this, throws a rock at another direction. While Toro is distracted the rest of us run to the steps.
Slowly, we crawl up the stairs, ducking behind the stairs' walls.
Bumpy, Kenji and Brooklyn reach to the top first, just as the monorail comes.
"Mono-!" Kenji yells
Brooklyn clamps her hand over Kenji's mouth. "Shhhh!"
Welcome to Jurassic World Lagoon! Next stop, Ferry Landing! The automatic voice says loudly. Toro turns around and sees us. He roars
All of run up the stairs frantically
"Go go go go!"
"Hurry!"
Toro runs up the stairs too, but slips midway, buying us time. Sammy, Ben, and I reach the monorail.
Please stand clear of the closing doors.
Kenji squeezes himself between the doors and keeps it from closing as Darius runs back to help Yasmina up the steps.
Please stand- please stand-
"Do not let those doors close!" Sammy and I help Kenji keep the doors open as he gets squished repeatedly.
Darius and Yaz reach the monorail and we all collapse to the floor. The doors shut, and the monorail starts moving to the Ferry Landing, leaving Toro roaring angrily behind.
We all just try to catch our breath for a moment.
"No way. Something bad always happens when we think we're safe. Watch. The doors are gonna open." Kenji guesses.
Sammy scoffs. The doors stay closed.
"Oh okay. Then the train's gonna stop, 'cause this is how it works."
Kenji waits. Nothing bad happens
"I'm pretty sure we're safe now, Kenj." I pat him on the back, and walk over to Ben to sit beside him.
I mean, I guess he's my friend now.
I smile to myself.
"Well, we were, until you said that." Kenji huffs.
The monorail travels peacefully for a while.
"It's over." Darius sighs. "Guys we did it. We're going home."
We all beam at each other.
"Whoo hoo!" Sammy cheers
"Yeah. Whoo!"
"Whoo!"
"Yeah!"
"Yes!"
"Finally!
"Alrighty!"
"This calls for a celebration!"
"I might be able to help with that" Ben proudly pulls out 7 chocolate bars. "Stashed a few for the road"
"Ooh sweet!"
"I'm starving!"
"Our little Ben is so useful."
I reach over and give Ben a quick hug. "Thanks Ben."
His face turns awfully red, and he looks away.
Everyone grabs one and takes a bite.
(retching, spitting)
A small piece falls into my mouth, and I smile at the peculiar taste of bitter chocolate.
"This is nasty!" Brooklyn spits it out.
"Get it off! Get it off!" Kenji dusts his tongue
"Ben, someone stole your candy bars a put dirt in them." Sammy says.
"They're carob bars. They pair perfectly with-" Ben gets cut off.
"-Carob juice. Great." Darius smiles uncertainly
"It's nature's chocolate." I explain. "Just as delicious, with none of the sugar or caffeine."
"What's wrong with sugar and caffeine? First thing I'm gonna do back home is hug my expresso machine" Brooklyn says. "I may never let go."
Kenji clears his throat and stands up straight. "You know, I've always described myself as a tall, hot, drink."
"Come on man!"
"Gross"
I laugh, "You could never be coffee."
"I could be coffee" Kenji mutters glares at the ground.
"I cannot wait to be home. When my ankle gets better, it's back to training. And I guess, finding a new corporate sponsor, since mine was Jurassic World. But you know..."
Yaz shrugs
"It's gonna be weird for things to be normal again" Darius states. "Like, are video games gonna be boring now?
"How about you? What's the first thing you're gonna do back home?"
"Depending on which wing of our mansion you're talking about."
East wing's usually off limits, but Dad and Candy are away on business, so I guess I'll go downstairs to our bowling alley." Kenji brags. "Staff always let me win. Life if a VIP." Kenji reminisces wistfully
"How 'bout you Y/N?"
"Oh... well, since my uncle's... you know... gone now, I guess I'll have to find somewhere to live." I say sadly. Where am I gonna live now?
Ben gives me a sad look.
"Well.. you could always live with us.." Kenji trails off. "I mean, if my dad allows it."
I smile gratefully at Kenji.
Silence
"Well, how about you Ben?" Sammy asks, breaking the awkward silence.
"Oh let me guess," Kenji points at Ben "You can't wait to get home to your closet of dork pouches."
"Ha ha. Very funny." Ben rolls his eyes.
"Seriously Ben! You've had juice boxes for days! How much stuff can you fit in that thing?"
"One, lots. And two, obviously the first thing I'm gonna do when I get back home is restock it."
All of us laugh.
"Check it out!" Kenji grabs a flashlight and waves it around like a lightsaber.
"I found the first thing in Jurassic World that works." He accidentally drops it with a clang. "Still works!"
"I still can't believe how much that went wrong. Like that time when we almost got eaten?" Brooklyn chuckles.
"Which time?" Darius asks. "How was there more than one time?!"
"Let's all raise our carob juice. A toast!" Sammy exclaims
We all raise them.
"To not getting eaten!"
"To not getting eaten!" We all repeat and drink a sip of juice.
"Ugh" Kenji gags.
Yasmina groans in disgust.
Darius spits out a bit.
Brooklyn stands up again and raises her juice box. "To no more running away!"
We repeat what she did. This time none of us except for Ben and I drink the juice. Sammy pours some juice for Bumpy. She licks it up.
"To the return of low-level, gnawing dread rather than an all- encompassing impending doom!" Ben says happily.
I smile at his deep choice of words.
We all toast one more time, not really understanding what Ben said.
"Why not!"
"To what Ben said!"
"Bad doom versus normal doom!"
(rumbles)
We all gasp a little and sit back down. Darius and Brooklyn look out the window to see what that was.
"We're okay. We're still okay." Darius reassures us. "Whatever it was, wasn't near us."
We all stay quiet for a bit.
"Well, I know camp wasn't what we thought it was gonna be," Sammy starts. "But after everything we've went through, at least we're leavin' this place with six new friends! To the seven of us being best friends for life! Clink!" Sammy toasts imaginarily.
Everyone avoid eye contact. I feel my shoulders slump at the thought of not being able to see Ben and everyone else after this. I bite my lip, tears slowly welling up in my eyes.
"Guys? Hello?" Sammy looks around at us. "Wait- do you guys not see us as friends?"
"I mean... Doesn't it take more than just a few days to make friends?" Brooklyn says.
"We were thrown together at random. We have nothing in common." Yaz states
"That's not true! We've been through together more than most friends have in a lifetime!" Sammy cries
"And now that it's over, what are the odds that we'll ever see each other again?" Ben asks, morose. He and I exchanged sad expressions.
Heavy Silence
"I thought I knew. My whole life I had this idea of Jurassic World." Darius says quietly. "My dad used to say this place was 'All-osaurus and a bag of chips'. He was so corny." He chuckles sadly
"Was? So your dad is..." Yaz trails off.
Dead. Like Uncle Masrani, I finish to myself
"I'm sorry Darius. Ugh! 'Sorry'. Nice one Sammy you ding dong!" Sammy mentally slaps herself. "Like 'Sorry' could even begin to-"
"It's okay." Darius cuts in.
"Hey. At least your dad never saw what a dumpster this place turned out to be, huh?" Kenji tries to console Darius, but fails horribly. "I meant that it's cool Darius and his dad were so close. I could count on one hand the number of times my dad and I ever did anything together. And Y/N too. Her dad-like figure's gone."
I sigh and look away. Ben puts a hand on my shoulder, but I can't bring myself to even look at him.
In the end, Ben just leans over and gives me a lingering hug, and I find myself feeling better.
"That's just real sad." Sammy says.
"Yeah... Did I mention I have a bowling alley?" Kenji says ruining the moment.
"Darn it! It's gotta be here somewhere!" Ben starts shaking his bag upside down. A few things fall out. Ben grabs a bottle of sanitizer and explains, "Bumpy stepped on something icky, and I'm low on sanitizer. It's fine. I can make more."
"Ben, why are you here?" Kenji suddenly asks
"What he means is- eh, well, you're scared of dinosaurs, and the outdoors, and sometimes the indoors, and germs." Darius corrects.
"And whipped cream for some reason?" Sammy frowns slightly.
"The way it moves" Ben shudders.
"Yeah that's what I'm talking about. What's the deal?"
"My mom works for Y/N's uncle. She got me into camp. Said it would be a great way to 'face my fears'. It's been a nightmare! I'm sick of being scared all the time! And of running, and of almost getting eaten. And.. and of holding everyone back. I just can't do... this. But, it's not all bad." Ben gives me and Bumpy a quick glance. "If I hadn't come, I- I would have never have met-"
(crashing)
Everyone grunts and falls.
Darius looks out the window. He seems to see something.
"Guys! Turn off the lights!"
Darius grabs the flashlight from Kenji's hand and starts smashing the lights.
I walk towards the window and look outside
Oh no...
A huge dark cloud of pteranodons fly towards the monorail.
"Flying reptiles are basically sea birds. They're attracted to shiny, moving objects. And with all these lights on-"
"-we're a shiny moving object!" Sammy cries.
We all grab a flashlight each, leaving none for Ben.
"W-what should I do?!" He asks, panicked
"Just keep out of the way!"
We all frantically smash the lights as pteranodons fly by us. They bang at the glass, cracking some, screeching as they do it.
Darius grunts and opens the second train car's door.
"Brooklyn you're with Yaz! Y/N help Bumpy and Ben across!."
As Ben, Bumpy, and I cross to the others, they run to train car after train car. Once we reach the end, we all look out the windows. In the distance, we see a broken monorail train with pteranodons pecking at it.
"At least now we know what that boom was earlier," Sammy says anxiously.
"If we don't switch tracks to stop this car right now, we're gonna hit that thing, full speed!"
"The front car! It has control panels over there!" Kenji points at a door.
Darius runs to it and tries to open the door, without luck. Brooklyn, Kenji, Sammy, and Yaz rush to help Darius with it, but the door doesn't budge.
"I'm gonna get to the control car through there!" Darius runs to a seat, steps on it, and cracks the top of the train open.
"You're gonna what?!"
"You can't go out there!"
"We don't have a choice! Only me, Y/N and-" He looks at Ben and I. We look back at him fearfully.
"I'm the only one who can fit." Darius says firmly.
(crash)
A pteranodon hits the monorail, causing all of us to fall to the floor
Ben and I exchange glances determinedly. We're both going to do what Darius was going to do. Both of us creep out to the top.
Darius gasps. "Ben, Y/N! What are you both doing?"
"We can do this! Just distract them with the flashlights!" Ben tells Darius.
We crawl to the next train car as what seems like hundreds of pteranodons fly past us.
"We can do this. We can do this!" I tell myself under my breath.
Ben whimpers but keeps going.
We both reach the hatch and break it open. I slide down first and help Ben get down inside the train car with me. We start pushing buttons frantically.
The other monorail gets closer and closer.
Then I spot a red lever. As a last resort, I pull it hard, and the train swerves out of the way just in time.
(screeching)
We scrape the other train car, letting out sparks until we eventually pass it, letting it fall to the ground and explode. Ben and I pant hard. He and I open the door.
Sammy, Darius, Brooklyn, Kenji, and Yaz cheer for us.
"You guys saved us! We didn't know you both had it in you."
Ben and I take a step towards them. Almost as if it were in slow-motion, a pteranodon grabs Ben, pulling him to the edge of the train.
Before he falls, I catch his hand.
I hang by the train car grasping Ben's hand as he dangles over the forest below.
"Ben!"
"Oh no!"
"Help!"
"Hang on!"
Ben and I grip each other's hands for as long as we can. But I know better.
We lock eyes knowing that it was no hope.
"I'm not leaving you Ben! Not ever!" I cry tearfully.
I let go of the train. Two pteranodons grab us just before we fall. They fly away from our friends still staring back from the monorail, horrified.
The pteranodons try to pull me and Ben apart, but we don't let go of each other's hands.
After what seems like forever, the pteranodons give up and let us go. We fall to the ground.
Then I hear a crack and my arm starts to feel like it's burning from pain.
I black out.
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