"I... I know what I have to do," Darius said. It was obvious that the others couldn't hear him or Sammy. He was aware he'd get an earful. Sammy was basically an older sister. Protective, always caring, trying to help and comfort. So, telling her he was going to take on two armed adults on his own when he was 12 wasn't going to go down well. She gave him a confused look.
"I'll go to the watering hole myself. I'll try and stop Tiff and Mitch. You go find everyone else and find a way off this island. If you're lucky, they lied and that boat is at one of the docks. I'll meet up with you guys afterwards... if-" he was cut off.
"Absolutely not! You're going to get killed if you go it alone," she reprimanded.
"I have to. This is all my fault," he said.
"What are you talking about?" she asked. Darius sighed.
"Look, the only reason Mitch and Tiff know about the watering hole is because I showed them. I'm the one who didn't listen to Brooklynn," he explained. He looked aside. He should've listened. He told her she was a paranoid attention-seeker when she was right to be suspicious. All because of his blind faith in Mitch, he'd pushed her away and gotten unjustifiably angry. He regretted it so deeply... she probably hated him, honestly. To have all these valid suspicions and your friend just- insults you and assumes you're wrong because they find one of the people you're suspicious of cool? All to be proven right? That had to be infuriating.
"The dinosaurs are in danger because of me. I promised you all that I'd get you home," he said, looking to the ground, "And I..." he looked at Sammy, who looked concerned.
"I already lost Ben," he finished. He hated remembering that. That he failed Ben and let him slip, let him die. He'd broken his promise. And he didn't want to break it to anyone else now.
"Darius, that's not your fault," Sammy began, "you're 12. You shouldn't have this much weight on you. You're the youngest of us all, but- you've kept me and Brooklynn and Yasmina and Kenji alive singlehandedly. We wouldn't be here without you."
Darius stayed silent for a moment, unsure of what to say. But he did then speak up.
"Mitch and Tiff definitely lied about the boat. It has to be on the Northwest dock, considering we're on the north of the island. Get everyone together and get off the island now while Mitch and Tiff are busy," he instructed.
"What about you?" Sammy asked him, grabbing his arm as he was ready to take off. He didn't say anything for a moment.
"I have to make this right," he said.
Then, the speaker kicked back up.
"We got your back, Darius! Forget the boat. Mitch and Tiff are going down!
No way. It couldn't be, could it? Darius felt his heart piece itself together immediately.
"Ben?!"
"You're- alive?!" Sammy asked beside him.
"Oh, right... you didn't know. Yeah. Also, we found the sound button, so we can hear you. And I defeated Toro."
Darius was stunned into silence, as was Sammy. He couldn't believe it. Ben was alive. Ben wasn't dead. Ben was back with them. He could barely make out Bumpy vocalizing in the background.
"Bumpy also says hi."
His jaw was on the ground. All this time, he'd thought Ben was gone. All this time, he thought he let Ben die. All this time, he thought he'd forever live with the guilt that he let Ben die, and destroyed any chance of him and his family reuniting.
"I think I broke them," Ben said. Then Yasmina spoke up to snap them out of their trances.
"Yeah, Ben's alive, we're very happy about it-"
"Point is," Brooklynn was now sternly speaking, "we're not letting you do this alone. We're in."
"You don't get it," Darius said, "you guys can get to the boat. Save yourselves."
"No, you don't get it. You're one of us," Yaz countered.
"And we're not going to let Mitch and Tiff get away with killing dinosaurs," Brooklynn added.
"I never liked those two anyway," Kenji spoke.
"It's dino savin' time! Camp fam for life!" Sammy exclaimed beside him. Yeah, they weren't going to listen to him.
"Okay, now that we've established lifelong camp family status, how do we stop them?" Yasmina asked.
"Feed both of them to the Mosasaurus!"
Wow... Darius's jaw dropped. Ben was... very different.
"Really feels like we're not getting our full use out of the Mosasaurus, guys," Ben said dejectedly when nobody agreed to his idea.
"Wait," Brooklynn said, "if they're going to the watering hole to kill dinosaurs..."
"Then, we just have to make sure there aren't any dinosaurs left for them to kill!" Darius finished up for her.
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Brooklynn couldn't help a smile coming onto her face when Darius finished up her sentence, with the exact same idea she had in mind. To her, it was comforting. It made her feel like maybe, just maybe, he'd forgiven her, and their connection wasn't gone.
"It's time for us to do what we do best..." Darius said.
"Cause chaos?" Kenji chirped.
"Get stuck in the middle of a lot of angry dinosaurs?" Yasmina also chipped in.
"Defeat Toro again?" Ben questioned.
"I mean- yeah? Except the last two," Darius replied. "Brooklynn, you're gonna be our eyes and ears."
Music to her ears. Not only because Darius was giving her that sort of confidence... but also because she dearly missed having technology at her fingertips.
"Kenji, grab a bike and pick up me and Sammy. Ben and Yaz, get big and loud, I've got a plan," Darius said. Music to everyone's ears, Brooklynn was sure. They weren't smooth, but Darius's plans were unconventionally very effective. Everybody took off with the exception of Brooklynn in order to fulfill their tasks. She quickly set to work on finding and labeling everyone, including Tiff and Mitch. She also labeled the Water Hole for good measure. A smirk appeared on her face as she found and labeled the couple.
"Gotcha."
She watched as the couple argued, snickering and enjoying their dispute. She found it especially amusing when Tiff electrocuted herself on a fence. Wanting to keep herself entertained, she activated the speaker.
"What's good, Isla Nublar? Tonight we've got a very special, very shocking, "Brooklynn Unboxes" live going out to Mitch and Tiff," she said, proud of her little 'shocking' pun. "Kapow."
She flicked a switch to taunt the two hunters, playing the PA about the park fences being electrified for safety. She then giggled like a little kid. Mitch seemed to be completely defeated. Tiff was the one who was trying to keep him motivated. Things went from amusing to horrifying as she watched a Baryonyx charge the pair, only for Tiff to shoot it in the mouth. She wasn't sure which Baryonyx it was... but her heart sank anyway. Even more heartbreaking, the two other Baryonyxes soon appeared, to find the other dead. She could hear the dinosaurs mourn their lost loved one. Tiff and Mitch needed to be stopped.
She watched as they sniffed the area. They were out for revenge now.
"As you should be," she supportively muttered. She went back to tracking Tiff and Mitch. This time, they managed through a fence, shooting the power box and climbing the thing. Not before Tiff growled and whacked the camera with her rifle, rendering it useless.
"No," she muttered. There was an error. She'd lost them. For some reason, the map said Darius, Sammy, and Kenji were in the ocean.
"Guys!" she said through to their nearest speaker. "Tiff and Mitch are about to get to the watering hole and Ben and Yaz aren't there yet."
"How far away is the nearest tunnel to them?" Darius asked.
"Uh..." she sorted through the map and found it, "if you go back the way you came a bit, there's a tunnel entrance that would put you out in front of them."
"Ok, you guys get to the watering hole," spoke Darius as he stepped off the motorcycle. "Meet up with Ben and Yaz like we planned. You'll move faster without three kids on one bike. I'll slow Tiff and Mitch down," he explained, tossing his helmet to Sammym
"Good luck, Dino Nerd," said Kenji.
"Be careful," said Darius with a smirk as the two others pulled off.
"Ok, Darius, what's the plan?" Brooklynn asked as she watched the boy make his way to the hatch. He didn't answer. Was he still mad? Was she wrong to think he trusted her or that they hadn't lost that connection?
"Darius, Darius!" she called out to him. Still, nothing. She watched him open the hatch. And then it clicked. He still felt like he had to do this and stop Tiff and Mitch by himself.
"Oh, you noble dummy, you don't have a plan do you?" she accused. He didn't confirm this directly, but his next statement made it obvious.
"Once this is done, get everyone out. Get them home," he instructed. He didn't look to the camera. He wasn't just going to stop Tiff and Mitch... he intended on sacrificing himself if it was necessary. And against two armed people, it was probably necessary.
"You're still trying to do it alone!" she shouted. But he didn't listen. He stepped onto the ladder and began shutting the hatch.
"Darius!" she shouted again, reaching an arm out as if she could stop him through the screen.
"Ugh!" she groaned and desperately began to find him and try to convince him to not do this. She'd seen it. Mitch, and especially Tiff, were merciless. She showed no fear as she shot the Baryonyx dead. Darius had a heart of gold, but if one bullet could bring down a decently large dinosaur, she didn't want to imagine what it would do to him. She had to push aside the image of Darius being shot dead by Tiff before it got to her. She desperately looked through the cameras until she came across a door that read 'E750'.
A part of her, that investigative part of her, wanted to go see what was through that door. But in the screen beside that, she had landed on a camera which showed a Gyrosphere in a garage. Her mind was made up in an instant. She took a second to memorize the location and took off. It wasn't too far, thankfully, and she rushed to get it booted up.
"Come on, you stupid..." she groaned before the thing finally worked. She immediately went full throttle, rolling out of the garage. She didn't slow down, her determination and focus enhancing her ability to avoid the rocks and trees. She had to get there in time. Before he was shot dead.
"Please don't be dead, please, please don't be..." her thought process was cut short and her eyes widened as she spotted Darius through some bushes. Both Tiff and Mitch were slowly lifting to aim at the boy, and he steeled himself. Time seemed to slow down for her, she could see the terror in his eyes. Behind that mask of bravery was a broken, stressed out, horrified kid who wanted nothing more than to be home and get her and the others home. She circled around to knock them back instead of to the side. She went full speed through the bushes, and sent the couple to the ground as they turned in surprise. She then immediately stopped the gyrosphere and jumped out.
She watched as Darius kicked one of their rifles to a side.
"Nice driving! I-"
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?!" she yelled out, cutting Darius off. "I thought we were a team."
"I couldn't put you guys in more danger. This is my fault."
"No, Darius," she said, grabbing his shoulders. He didn't turn to look at her as she hoped he would do. "You have been trying to get us home since the moment the Indominus rex broke out."
She finally turned him around to face her.
"The only thing you're guilty of is keeping us all alive. And I'm sorry it took me so long to say that."
"No, I'm sorry," he said, again looking away from her, "you were right to be suspicious of them."
"Hey, next time you two wanna have a touching moment, maybe kick the gund a bit further away."
Tiff and Mitch were back up, and mere inches away from them.
"We're armed again!" she announced. Just then, faint music can be heard in the background. They could eventually recognize it as Dave's Demos. Both her and Darius's nerves were steeled.
"We're armed too," Darius said. Nice set up for the showdown.
"With friendship."
Brooklynn deadpanned.
"We are not armed with that," she said plainly.
"No, it's like a cool guy thing to say," he whispered to her.
"Dude, it so isn't," she told him.
"Agree to disagree?"
A horn honked in the distance. As always, a very unconventionally effective plan. Brooklynn placed her arm on Darius's shoulder as he crossed his arms with a smirk.
"What my cornball friend here was trying to say is that you may be armed, but there's six of us. Two of you," she said, now just placing a hand on Darius's shoulder. "And most importantly..."
"We were just just stalling," Darius said. Tiff and Mitch looked in disbelief beyond them. They turned to watch as Kenji and Sammy appeared in the distance on their bike, followed by Yaz in a car and Ben riding on Bumpy. Yasmina honked and the dinosaurs at the watering hole began to disperse in a panic. They remained behind the horde of dinosaurs as they ran away from the watering hole.
Brooklynn and Darius hopped into the gyrosphere as Tiff and Mitch turned to face them. They waved with grins as they took off back into the jungle.
"Can't believe that worked," Darius said with a cheerful laugh.
"I can," Brooklynn said. "But never do that again," she sternly spoke.
"Alright, I won't... sorry," Darius apologized. Something about it was way too cheerful and she felt as though he would do it again. But, she didn't feel like arguing again.
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The plan almost went off to near perfection. Until the horde of dinosaurs stampeded right back towards them. It became evident why when they heard the unmistakable roar of the T. rex and then watched the giant predator come into view. Everyone took off in the opposite direction. Everyone but Yasmina, because the stupid car wouldn't work.
"Come on!" she pleaded, stepping on the gas to no avail. She looked back up again, the stampeded of dinosaurs was scarily close. She looked to her left, and in the mirror she saw Ben and Sammy on top of Kenji, running towards her. She unfastened her seatbelt and opened the door, jumping out just as Bumpy passed by. Sammy caught her and she managed to land on the Ankylosaurus's back just as the stampede destroyed the car. Bumpy, though, was now in the middle of the chaos, bumping into other dinosaurs. They looked back to see the T. rex catching up to them. Seeing her in action like this was terrifying. She made Bumpy, who for this entire time had seemed big and powerful, seem tiny and powerless. Rexy was huge, bigger than they'd realized.
Her jaws snapped at the campers and Bumpy, who narrowly avoided that deadly bite. Bumpy maneuvered through the herd and managed to find a way out of it. The campers watched as Rexy roared out in frustration at her failure to catch them, before returning to chase the stampede. It was a terrifyingly magnificent scene.
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Things had gotten rocky. It seemed they were now the ones Tiff and Mitch were hunting. Thank goodness for bullet-proof glass. But they were still scared. The gyrosphere bounced off a rock and bumped into more. And then it ceased to work.
"No, come on, come on! Come on, come on, come on. Come on! Go!"
Darius tried but it wouldn't work. A sense of deja vu hit the two campers, and suddenly they were back on that dino drive.
"Hurry!" Tiff and Mitch..." as if on cue, Tiff shouted out loudly, her voice strained and angry. They watched the couple run past them. But then they noticed. It was straight out of a horror movie. They walked back behind the gyrosphere. Tiff looked manic. An unhinged, sadistic grin on her face. She stalked towards the gyrosphere.
"What's wrong? Turn it on, get it-"
"I'm trying! I'm trying!" Darius cut Brooklynn off. But the thing wouldn't start. And then shadows loomed over them, and there were knocks on the glass in front of the gyrosphere. Mitch looked angry. Tiff still looked unhinged.
"I was definitely right about them," whispered Brooklynn.
"You can't stay in there forever," Tiff said. "And when you call out we'll be right here waiting."
Darius watched Mitch as he looked up from his tablet with a worried look. He was looking past the gyrosphere. The shaking ground and several different roars made the reason why very obvious. The couple took off in terror. The kids were still trapped in the gyrosphere, desperately trying to get it going. And just like last time, they were sent spinning and bumping into several panicked herbivores by a Sinoceratops. And then finally, the thing worked. The two immediately maneuvered the gyrosphere out of the horde's way.
The pair came to a halt in some thick foliage, and sighed.
"Deja vu?" Darius joked. It brought a laugh out of both of them.
"At least this time wasn't as bad," she retorted.
"Yeah... wait- we can get to the docks in this," he mused. She looked up at him with wide eyes and he wasted no time. They rushed through. They were pretty far from the docks, but they should be able to make it before Tiff and Mitch.
Well... or. Hours later, the sun was finally up and they'd finally managed to reach the docks. Up ahead they saw Tiff. The woman raced towards the boat, going through the gates but leaving them closed enough so that the gyrosphere wouldn't get through. Brooklynn sped up, and the gyrosphere burst through the gates. She and Darius hopped out and raced in a desperate attempt to get to the boat. Darius was about to jump on it before it moved forward and took the cleat it was docked to with it. Brooklynn held Darius back from potentially slipping into the water.
"I am out of here! And you are never getting off thie awful, awful island!" she shouted at them. "In fact, I'm going back, and I'm not telling anyone you're here!"
Because she was so busy taunting them in anger, the boat hit some rocks.
"You are gonna rot here, you little brats!"
The boat continued to move. Their chance at getting home was gone. Brooklynn placed a comforting hand on Darius's shoulder. He sighed.
"Hey, it's ok. We'll find another way eventually..." she said. He gave her a sad look, before turning and walking back to the gate. There, she placed her hand on his shoulder again and tried to give him a comforting smile. Kenji soon arrived on the scene. He fell to the ground with a defeated whimper. Brooklynn found it pretty amusing, as did Sammy and Yasmina. Those four embraced in a hug, and it brought a smile to Darius's face.
He then turned back. And there he was. The one who he thought he'd lost forever. Ben Pincus. There was a moment's silence between them. He looked incredibly different.
"Hey," he said. Darius embraced him into one of the tightest hugs he'd ever given anyone. Maybe only beaten out by his dad on several occasions, his mom when he was mourning, and Brand at their father's funeral.
"I'm sorry," Darius immediately apologized, "I tried to hold on."
They broke from the hug.
"Think nothing of it kid. When you've seen what I've seen..." Ben reinitiated the embrace. "I missed you guys, too."
"Did- did you just call me "Kid"?" Darius clocked. Soon, he felt everyone else join in on the hug. If ever there was confirmation they were best friends for life, this was it.
"Camp fam!" Sammy cheered.
"Hugging... too long..." Yasmina complained. They all finally broke free of the group hug, and sighed.
"So... what now?" Kenji asked. They all looked out towards the ocean. "Find another distress beacon?"
"No."
Everybody looked to Darius.
"We're done waiting for someone to rescue us. It's time we found our own way off the island. "Let's head back to camp. Our camp."
Everyone smiled. With that, the group marched back into the jungle. Things wouldn't be easy. But it had been long enough. 2 months, to be exact. He'd kept track of the days since the day Tiff and Mitch told him it was February 18th. Today, it was February 20th, in three weeks, he'd be celebrating his 13th birthday. Hopefully, back with his mom and Brand, and who knows? Maybe he could invite the others. Kenji could pay for the plane tickets.