Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 18: What's The Point?

I avoided eye contact with everyone as we journeyed through the empty dinosaur paddock, towards who-knows-where.

Darius had tried to come up to me a few times, but I blatantly ignored him. They all seemed worried, but I couldn't care less about their concern; why should I? They didn't have enough care in them for Ben, what's the point on using it on the quiet girl?

The quiet, depressed, angry, broken, fuming girl...

"Um, guys..."

I stop walking when I hear Sammy express an anxious tone. I look back to see her staring off into the jungle, eyes wide in fear.

"Something's coming!"

We all look to where she is, and notice the undergrowth shaking up ahead. The noise of light stomping and grunting follow, and I take a step back since I'm the closest to the sound.

C'mon! I inwardly groan. It's only been an hour since the pterodactyl attack, just have mercy on us for once!

We all step back as the shaking and grunting grow louder, before a dinosaur slightly taller than Kenji emerges from the trees. Oh, wait, it's the same animal as the ones from the kayaks!

We all slump and sigh in relief.

The dinosaurs had only attacked before because of Bumpy's provoking, so this little guy should be harmless, right?

Besides, didn't Darius say these things were herbivores?

Yeah, we're...we're safe.

All good!

Well, it was, until before we know it we were all being chased down by the "innocent" creature.

It didn't take long, though, for another guest to suddenly turn up and start chasing after the other dinosaur, snapping it's large jaws over air as it attempted to send it to it's belly. The Parasaurolophuses — Darius called it, reminding me of yesterday back in the kayak cave — retreated in order to try and avoid this fate, while we all quickly took cover behind a large log.

We all whimpered and shook as the sound of the T-Rex's monstrous stomps and roars covered up the Para-something-or-other's squeals and groans. My eyes slammed shut, and my hands smacked to my ears when the sound of a sudden crunch ended to squealing, ending the dinosaur's life.

My eyes opened again, and I slowly uncovered my ears as Darius stood to look over the log.

"They're gone." He assured after the animal's receding footsteps faded away, plopping back down into the grass. We all sigh in both relief and annoyance.

I plop back against the log, relieved that it doesn't irritate the numb burning in my torso.

"Why are there so many dinosaurs around?" Kenji muttered rhetorically.

We didn't need to answer, because it was obvious and we'd figured out why a while ago; the fences went down along with the rest of the park, meaning no matter where we went, we were at risk of being killed and ripped apart by a meat-eating dinosaur.

I didn't know if I cared about that possibility or not — though back in the garage with Toro, it seemed kinda obvious.

I wouldn't act like it, due to both instincts and the fact that I was with a group of other kids, but...but I really didn't care if I didn't make it off this island alive or not. I didn't care if I ended up with the same fate as that "innocent" dinosaur, or those two workers back at the watchtower.

Because of Ben, or because of the realistic possibilities...I couldn't say.

Probably both.

"At this point, I don't even care about them." Yasmina admitted, breaking me from my cloudy thoughts. "Right now, I just want a sandwich. We haven't eaten since we had those awful carob bars that Ben..."