Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 37: Twin Pact

We jump out the garage doors in a fiery explosion, believe it or not.

I hang tight to my brother from behind on Bumpy's back, while the other three sit on a motorcycle we found in the building. The explosion mixed with Bumpy soaring over their heads sends to dinos to the ground with a roar, and we land rather rockily on the ground.

That doesn't stop us, however, as Bumpy and the bike beside us speed into the jungle.

Unfortunately the dinos get up quickly and start chasing after us, and I look behind us with wide eyes as they catch up with remarkable and terrifying speed.

"Ben, they're coming!"

Ben look to the others and tells them we'll draw some away from them, distract them. Before I can disagree with this plan, Bumpy is straying from the path.

After a minute I look back, only to see nothing but forestry behind us.

"Ben, they didn't follow us!"

Ben calls for Bumpy to slow, and we slide off her back.

After waiting a bit, we finally deduced that Ben's last minutes plan hadn't worked. We'd just gotten ourselves lost from the group, with no idea whether they were safe or not.

We could only hope.

In the mean time, though, I desperately needed a drink. I haven't had a single drip of water since this morning, and my throat was drier than it's ever been in the past few weeks.

Luckily, a stream nearby provides me and my brother some hydration. After sitting by the banks drinking hand-cups of water in silence, Ben finally talks.

"So, uh...how's it been with..." he trailed off, but I know what he meant to say.

I take another sip of water slowly, then allow the excess to run over my fingers and through the spaces between them. The water falls down and back into the ravine, where it'll never be seen again as it follows the current downstream.

"Well, it's been hard. We, uh, we built a treehouse out of the stuff left over from the camp. We also found some canned fruit and bandages for Yasmina's leg and...um..."

My hands reach down and untie my button up from around my waist. I then pull my shirt up and show him the bandaids wrapped around my midsection and chest (something I won't lie about is that they actually make for a good make-shift bra). His eyes go wide.

"It...d-did it get worse?"

I nod and pull my shirt back down. "I may or may not have ignored it for a few weeks after you...fell." I admit. He looks at me in disbelief, and before he can say anything I quickly add, "But I learned! I passed out and now the others are making me take care of myself. I promise I'm okay."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

He smiles. "Okay. What happened after I fell? Like, right after; why didn't you guys go to the boats?"

"We tried. We tried but the monorail started going backward, going back the way we came, and we had to jump off. That's when Kon- um, Kenji lost Bumpy and we had to figure out what to do. We ran down to the underground tunnels and tried to get to the dock that way, but we ended up getting cornered by Toro and having to fight him off.

"By the time we...reached the docks, all the ferries were gone and we couldn't leave. I'm so sorry we didn't look for you, we...I-I thought you were-"

"Hey, don't do that!" Ben shuffles over and pulls me into his arms, where I hang on to him as tight as I can, fearing this might really be just a dream.

"Don't do what? Blame the guilty party? Blame the person who dropped you from the monorail, who-"

"You didn't drop me, Blake, I slipped. You and Darius tried your best to save me. It's okay."

"Is it? Because for a month and a half, I thought you were dead. I hated everyone except Darius and blamed them for what happened to you. I had these horrible thoughts, these...these ideas to just let myself get-get eaten because I felt I had nothing to live for anymore. I was alone, I felt guilty and depressed and angry, so angry!"

Ben tensed up, and I suddenly realized what I'd just admitted. I didn't move away because it was too late, I just waited for how he was about to react.

"B, did you...y-you thought about...?"

The pain in his voice made my stomach clench. I felt queasy.

I just nod against his chest.

"But...not anymore, okay? I'm better now."

Ben pulls me away and grips me by the shoulders, gently but firmly. He gives a fearful, concerned gaze.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Ben. Now that you're here, I won't ever think about it anymore; I-I prom-"

"Don't make anymore promises, okay? There's only so much you can keep."

I nod and say nothing as he gets up and walks over to the sleeping Bumpy, who awakens at his presence. He leans down and mutters something as he runs a hand down her head and pets over her snout.

I turn back to the stream and watch the water running, wondering if it connected to the camp. If it does, maybe we can follow it? But the others won't be there, they're with Mitch and Tiff while Brooklyn and Kon are with Hap. It was still a question if he was trustworthy, though after we found the garage, I was starting to finalize my trust.

Unlike someone...

"Come on, B, we gotta go find the others. The sun's starting to set."

"Coming."

I look back at the river one last time, before turning and pushing myself off the ground.

————

We spend the good of an hour searching for our friends. We find the bike tracks in the first of the path we'd left and follow them into a cluster of boulders.

There we find some unsettling things — the shocker, which was torn in half, and a trail of blood that almost makes me throw up.

The blood leads in a different direction than the cycle tracks, though, leading me to believe that Hap had...sacrificed himself.

And the idea is saddening.

Hap had been telling the truth.

And now he was dead.

Bumpy follows the tracks into the jungle, and by the time we find everyone the region is dark and cold as the night takes over. Yasmina's there, and she falls back to the ground when Bumpy jumps through the trees. I get down first, and smile at the shock on the runner's face.

"Bumpy? What-"

Then Ben hops down and greets her. Her eyes grow wider.

Ben awkwardly fiddles with his spear and offers the girl a hand. He clears his throat.

"Yasmina."

Yasmina lunges forward suddenly and embraces Ben. Ben and I both laugh.

"So you're a hugger now, Fabuola?"

Yasmina steps away.

"Still have mixed feelings about it, but I...you're..."

She hugs him again and laughs, while Kon and Brooklyn come up to us.

"We've been trying to tell you about it! And where have you two been?"

"We got lost." I explain. "But we're here now, so..."

"Okay, well then, we have some pressing news."