E750
[Brooklyn POV]
Rest... Ahhh. So peaceful up here in our treehouse camp. So worth making, so worth living in. Kind of.
Kenji goes into our makeshift bathroom.
"Agghh! Does the water always have to be this cold?!" He yelps.
I try to wake Sammy up.
"Five more minutes." She groans
Yaz bangs at the canned fruit. "Come on! Just open!!"
I go to a board and use a piece of chalk to tick off another day. "And another one."
Kenji waves at us from the bathroom
"No mas agua, a little help!"
"I got you Kenj" Darius stands up from the couch and goes to Kenji
"If you keep doing that for him, he'll never learn" I state
Darius just shrugs and slides down the slide we made. He uses a container of plastic to scoop up water from the stream.
"Uh, guys!" Darius calls
We run to him and see the stream bone-dry.
"Where'd all the water go?"
"Why don't we ask Mr. 45 Minutes Shower?" Yaz says as Kenji wipes his wet head with a towel.
"Hey looking good is part of my brand
And no way I drained a whole river." He says defensively.
"Guys. We better figure out what's up.
We're gonna run out of water. Let's-"
"Shh!"
They all look at me.
"I hear that hum again" I say.
(all groan)
"The river must've been drowning it out. If I can find it again I can find -"
"'That frozen patch of flowers'" they all cut in at the same time.
"Oh. I've mentioned it, huh?"
"The frozen flowers that you saw once but never found again? Yeah. A few hundred times"
"Uh, I'm sorry for wanting to get to the bottom of this weirdness." I say defensively. "I came here to -"
"'Unbox Jurassic World and that's what I'm gonna do'" they all echo back at me
"If you're gonna go to look for the noise, I'm coming too" Sammy says excitedly. "It'd be nice to have an adventure for a fun reason and not a 'fleeing dinosaurs or imminent death' reason"
"I'll go with them" Yaz runs to us
"Ooh! It's a Camp Cretaceous Girl Adventure!"
"Great! You do that, and Kenji and I will find out the reason why the river stopped flowing." Darius says
"Kenji do what now?"
"You want to keep up your shower habit and also survive, don't you? Let's go unbox the mystery of the missing water" Darius flares his arms dramatically.
Kenji sighs. "Fine. I'm in. It makes sense, since I know this island like-"
"'The back of my VIP Hand'" we all finish.
"We've been spending way too much time together"
[Kenji POV]
Darius and I walk through the forest. I hold up the butter knife I was able to scavenge. Darius holds up a large tree branch.
Gahhh. Darius keeps writing about trees. His stick hits my back because of trees
"Dude! This is the tenth tree on a tree you've written about. How can you be so obsessed with trees growing out of trees?!" I yelp
"These are part of the triceratops' food chain. You'll love this. They contain neochrome-"
"Wasn't looking for an answer."
I go to a small puddle of water and fill my bottle up with it. Darius walks up to me
"Kenji, I know you like to pretend that this place isn't cool, but look around! How crazy is it that we're living with dinosaurs?"
I give him my best 'Seriously?' face
"... When they're not trying to eat us." Darius adds
He gasps and runs to a pile of dirt. A PILE OF DIRT IS INTERESTING FOR HIM. WHAT.
"Dinosaurs compete over geothermal vents to use as incubation chamber for their eggs! See? Cool!"
"Dirt and steam may be a never ending source of wonder for you but my standards are a little higher." I continue walking past the steam.
Darius runs in front of me and flares his arms in a 'cool' way
"Bro-seph! Only VIP dinos with mad connects can get primo egg cribs!"
Is Darius serious right now? That's his Bro Talk? Wow he's horrible.
"Didn't we talk about you and the bro talk?"
"You know, I feel bad for you. You can't see what makes this amazing."
I sigh again. "I have seen it. All of it. Like, a gazillion times. Oh and those ferns you're so psyched about? They're just there to hide speakers." I felt kinda guilty saying this, but Darius just won't quit. "Sorry bro, but I am way over Nublar. There's nothing for me here"
"-whoa! Darius! You were right! I can't believe it! It's... A dead end!" I exclaim sarcastically. "This place is the coolest!"
Darius looks at the dead end. "It's a waterfall. Or it should be...
You know what this means!!! Who's up for rock climbing???!!" Darius sings. "That's cool right?" He holds up a hand "Don't leave me hanging."
I leave him hanging.
[Brooklyn POV]
Behind me, Sammy and Yaz are chatting with each other loudly.
"Favorite place?"
"High school."
"Your favorite place in the world is high school?"
"Yeah! There's lockers, dances, passing notes in class, getting detention for passing notes in class."
"No! School is where you do boring stuff before coming back and doin' it all over again.... I may like square pizza in the cafeteria though."
"Oh please! Your favorite is orange, orange, and orange."
Both of them laugh. I wish I could relate that much. I've never went to school, I've always only had online tutors.
I try to join in.
"Hahaha! Oh wow! Yeah!" I say. "Pizza is orange. So funny right?"
"Oh... No. It was kinda something Yaz said before."
"Ohhh cool. Yeah. Cool" I feel my shoulders slump a bit and walk ahead of them. I really can't relate after all.
Yasmina sighs. "Hey, Brooklyn. What's your favorite thing about school?"
"Oh wow. It's hard to pick just one." I pretend that I'm not completely clueless. "I mean... I really love the
big-" I rack my brains "food fights? Big food fights?"
Yasmina shakes her head. "Uh-huh. You've never been in a high school have you?" She guesses.
My shoulders slump again. "No. A hundred percent online tutors. But I once dropped a scone in front of the queen while doing my 'Unboxing Buckingham Palace' video though!" I try to change the subject. "Total food fight, right?"
"Um sorta."
"Sure..."
I flinch and brushed my hair behind my ear (a nervous habit). "We should keep moving"
Suddenly I step on a frozen flower. "I think this is the place."
(low humming)
It's that hum again!
"The hum!"
"I hear it!"
"I told you guys!"
I wave my hands over the flower patch.
"It's super cold air."
"The ground's vibrating?"
I push some of the flowers aside. Inside the patch was...
A vent.
(all gasp)
"What?"
[Kenji POV]
Grahhh. How could I let Darius convince me to touch the icky rocks with my now-icky hands messing up my previously-not-icky-but-actually-
perfect hair. Ugh. Ew. The rocks have so much icky moss. Ewww
We both reach the top of the waterfall after much panting.
Darius lays down on the ground happily. "That was so great!"
"Yeah." I pretend to agree. "Who needs actual enjoyment when you have that?"
Darius turns around and gasps. Large fallen trees block the stream.
"Well that explains out water problem. Okay so all we have to do is move that tree and we should be good to go! This is going to be so awesome!"
"You're seriously gonna try to convince me that this will be cool?" I put a hand on Darius head. "Let's just get this over with."
We try to move the tree.
Push,
Pull,
Shove,
No luck.
Of course.
"Huh. Thought that'd be easier." Darius says.
(roaring)
We duck behind the fallen tree. Two stegosauruses are fighting in front of us using their tails to hit each other. Great. Of course we have to be in the middle of a dinosaur fight, too.
Darius watched them with fascination. "They're fighting for dominance! Stegos are super territorial."
One of them kick a rock at us, and the trunk shakes, almost hitting us.
Darius realizes something, I can see it on his face.
"I know how to fix our water problem!"
He runs out of our hiding place. I scramble to follow him.
"What?! No Darius!"
Darius stupidly starts waving his arms. "Hey!! Over here!!" He yells at the dinos. I try to pull him back to hide, but he doesn't budge. Then he starts making stegosaurus noises.
Annnd, now Darius is a stegosaurus. Great.
I groan. Darius's way will never work. I just trust Darius and whistle loudly.
The stegos turn to us and start stomping towards us. I run but Darius holds me back.
"Hold."
I gasp
"Now!"
We leap out of the way, just as the stegosauruses bump the fallen tree. The stream gushes water and starts flowing again.
We start running away again.
"We got it!"
I push Darius out of the way just as a stegosaurus almost stomps on us.
They resume chasing us.
"Great. Now how do we get rid of it?" I yell as another stegosaurus joins in the chase.
The dinosaurs bump into each other. They stop chasing us and fight with each other instead.
"Cool," I pant.
Darius nods at me.
(growling)
A Carnotaurus walks in front of us and makes a low guttural growl. I hold my knife up uselessly.
And... Now we're dead.
[Brooklyn POV]
"I knew we'd find it! Wait. If there's no electricity on this island, what's powering it up?" I ask, bewildered. "This place is just getting weirder and weirder."
Sammy gives an enormous gasp. "Yaz! Yaz, Yaz, Yaz, Yaz! There's an episode of Esther Stone that is just like this!!"
I look back at them.
"Sorry. Yaz and I were talking about this show that she and I love called-"
"Esther Stone: High School P.I., Episode 23 when she exposed the cryptocurrency ring! I've seen that episode like, 80 times!" I yell
"No way! You watch Esther Stone?!"
"Huh. Famous people are just like us"
"A K-Pop group turned me into it."
"Then what are we waiting for?! It's time to investigate-"
"A stone cold mystery" we all finish
"Spread out. See if you can find more vibrations"
We all start searching around
"Hey! I hear something!"
(faint humming)
"Follow that hum!" Sammy hisses.
We run towards our right.
"The vibrations are getting stronger"
"We're on the right track!"
"Remember when Esther figured out the superintendent's phone vibrating was actually Morse code?"
"And that killer chase scene in the abandoned warehouse?"
"But still made it to prom in that amazing dress?! So good!"
"I love the episode when she finds the..." I look to my front. "... genetics lab?"
"Yeah but that's season two. We don't talk about that season."
"Not that lab" I point to Wu's genetics lab. "That lab"
[Kenji POV]
The Carnotaurus huffs down at us, messing up my perfectly mussed hair. I put a shaking hand and smoothen it.
Suddenly, the Carnotaurus leaves us behind. He walks down the hill. Darius and I follow it and we see a wonderful sight:
"A watering hole" Darius breathes. "Dr Grant theorized that they could become neutral grounds for both prey and predator under the right conditions."
So... predators don't attack their food when they're all drinking at the watering hole..? Huh.
"Now without fences or people around, might be the first to see something like this. Wow!"
Darius runs to the dinosaurs.
"Wait! Where are you going!?"
"Come on!"
I moan and follow Darius.
We look around the watering hole. The Carnotaurus stares at us as it drinks water.
"Uh, dude. You sure this is safe?"
Darius puts a comforting hand on my shoulder.
I look around. Well, they don't seem that dangerous when they're drinking water.
I smile and Darius does too. Now that I think of it, it is a pretty majestic sight.
Darius and I scoop up water and drink from our hands.
(sniffling)
"Kenji?"
"It's just... So majestic"
[Brooklyn POV]
We investigate the lab. It was dark, and had no more lights in it. Creepy.
"Indominus Rex, the hum, Manta Corp. It all connects here, in Wu's lab." I realize
"Dr Wu was up to something big,
something secret."
"Who- who do you think took everything?"
It is pretty empty
"Something's gotta be here."
We dash to the next room, where we ate cake before Eddie...
Nevermind
Suddenly, I had a thought.
"That birthday guy! Of course! He mentioned something about 'the other guys'. And no one knew what was really going on around here. Could he have been working for Manta Corp?"
I crawl through a bunch of papers.
Useless.
"Again!! Nothing!" I yell in frustration
"Brooklyn, what did you expect to find?"
"I don't know. Something big. Something important"
(screeching)
We gasp and hide behind a table.
Two Baryonyxes pass by. One almost sees us, but we hold our breath.
Once it's gone, Yaz and Sammy crawl to another place. I follow, but not before I find an envelope. I slip into my pocket and run after them.
I hide behind another metal table, and look at the envelope
"E750?" I read
I know that number. It was on Wu's computer.
Sammy and Yaz wave me over to their spot, and I creep to them.
We crawl to hiding place after hiding place
Suddenly, I trip and fall, alerting the Baryonyx. It screeches and starts running after us.
"Quick, outside!!"
The Baryonyx collides with the other one and they snap at each other. We run to safety.
[Kenji POV]
Darius and I sigh peacefully. We rest against a tree and just chill, watching the dinos drink water.
"Darius thanks. This is so..."
"Cool?"
"Super cool"
"I wish Dr. Grant we're here. If he was, he would write the most amazing article about this."
"You don't need that guy. You have your nerd book" I point to Darius' notebook he's been carrying around and writing in.
"This? No I'm just messing around."
"If this really is something no one has ever seen, I bet you could make that doctor dork mad jealous that you saw it and he didn't." I playfully shove Darius' arm.
"Wanna stay a little longer?" He beams
"Why not?" I sigh. "Place even has a sweet resting tree"
[Brooklyn POV]
(all scream)
We run out of the lab. The third Baryonyx bursts out and in front of us.
(roars)
We all take cover behind a tree and lose the Baryonyxes. I laugh in relief. Sammy, and Yaz do the same.
I pull out the envelope.
"All right. A bunch of numbers and letters...
And...
This thing." I hold up a small white keycard
"No answers. Just more questions." I sigh. "Maybe we should check-"
(roaring)
(all gasp)
"Or we can go."
"Let's not push our luck"
•·•
Back at camp, the water is flowing again.
"Looks like you fixed the water problem"
"You're welcome. All me." Kenji shows off
"Yeah!"
"Whoo-hoo!"
"H2O baby!"
I take out the key card triumphantly.
"And we found this!"
"Is that something you were looking for?"
"Kind of."
Sammy and I high-five.
"Okay, awesome!" Darius smiles. "Have fun doing whatever you're using that for."
"Yeah. That thing." Kenji says
"You know, if Esther Stone was here she'd say..."
Kenji stands up regally. "...'Life is hard, so any day that goes somewhat right
deserves to be celebrated by a party'"
Us girls look at him with surprise.
"I watched a lot with... With Y/N"
Silence
"Well," Sammy says, breaking the silence, "in the spirit of Esther Stone, let's party!"
Kenji takes out a cassette and starts playing a strange song that Dave apparently made.
"Kenji, what's this?"
"Dave's demos. Found it under the rubble."
♪ Ohhhh yeahhh. Feel the beat that I made. Are you ready, ready, ready, ready? Dave special!!! Music, music, music, music. ♪
"Nope I'm out" Yasmina says.
"Hold up! Here's the best part"
Roxie comes in
♪ Dave, Dave, Da-Da-Da-Dave. Get that thing out of my face. What are you even doing? ♪
♪ makin' music! makin' music! ♪
We all start clapping and dancing to the beat.
"Uh-huh. Dave is actually pretty good at beatboxing"
"Ohhh. Look at that!" Sammy walks leans over the balcony.
I walk over to her and look up at the sky. The milky way winks at me, and shooting stars zoom down. I sigh and put my arms around Darius and Sammy.
Suddenly, we see smoke and a fire.
"What is that?"
"A fire."
Sammy gasps. "A campfire!"
"Guys... We're not alone"
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