Make it Through the Night

CHAPTER 29

Chapter 29

About the time I finished the spear the others returned and told Mae and me everything that had happened. Darius was caught by Kash who was pitting dinosaurs against each other in a videogame. Thankfully Kash didn't know about the rest of us though. Which did give us an advantage.

"No!" Mae yelled as the others told us about Pierce and Big Eatie having to fight each other. I placed my hand on her shoulder trying to calm her down. "I'm sorry. This is just. Big Eatie's already been through so much, and I practically raised Pierce. And now Darius is stuck with that monster," she cried.

"I get it, believe me. But they're tough, okay? They'll get through this," Ben told her, trying to give her some hope to hang onto. "He's right, they'll survive this. It will be okay," I said with a smile. Mae nodded.

"There's an underground med bay. I didn't have access, probably because Kash is doing horrible things he didn't want me to know about. And on top of everything else now he had my research. How could I have been so naïve," Mae stated. "We need another way to get in," Brooklynn said. "Any of the feeding platforms should get you down to the lower level. The next feeding is in the desert," Mae told us.

"With the saber-toothed tiger?" Ben asked hesitantly. "So not "not dangerous" Yaz questioned. "Sound like it," I replied. We all exchanged looks and then everyone looked at me, "Hay. I'm not making this decision," I exclaimed, and everyone turned at looked at Brooklynn. It went quiet for a moment before Brooklynn stood up. "We go get Darius, no matter what," she commanded, and everyone nodded in agreement.

After that, we headed towards the desert biome. This time I didn't stay behind, with Darius gone, we needed all the help we could get, and besides, I had a new spear.

We made our way through the jungle, into the airlock, and down the hall into the desert biome. "Guy's? I know we're in a desert, but it feels like it got way hotter all of a sudden," Sammy said as we made our way toward the feeding platform. "So how do we get onto the saber-tooth's feeding platform without being dessert? Yaz asked as she walked next to Ben and me. "We have to time it just right. We'll hide nearby, and after the tiger eats and leaves, we jump on the platform before it goes back down," Brooklynn explained. "Good plan chief!" Kenji cheered, obviously flirting with Brooklynn. I couldn't help but giggle a little at the two of them, which earned me a confused look from Ben.

We continued walking for a while but then I started to hear something in the distance, and then I saw it. "What is that?" Brooklynn asked as the creatures got closer. It was a dinosaur, "That's new," Brooklynn muttered after the dinosaurs let out a defining roar.

We all began to sprint away as the dinosaur let out a growl and chased after us. We ran through the entrance to the canyon which thankfully the dinosaur was too big to fit through. "It can't get to us in here. Right?" Sammy asked as we began to walk through the canyon. "It's too big to fit through the entrance, but there's still," I told her but was interrupted by a growl. Not one from a dinosaur though, this one was from a tiger. "This keeps getting better," Ben mumbled as the saber-toothed tiger emerged from the shadows.

"Run!" Brooklynn yelled, and we began to frantically sprint through the canyons trying to find a place to hide. But then we hit a dead end. Brooklynn and I stood in front of everyone else as the tiger drew closer, I had my spear ready to fight, but I knew it was probably useless. But then as the tiger jumped toward us, suddenly, the dinosaur from earlier burst through a weak spot on in the canyon wall snatching up the tiger and disappearing again.

"Well at least that," I muttered after we had all screamed for the billionth time, but then the dinosaurs head repapered. "Go around!" Brooklynn yelled as we all scooted against the wall and ran back down the canyon away from the roars of the excessively large dinosaur.

After a few moments we had made our way out of the canyons, and we were running straight for the feeding platform. "Come on. We have to make it to the platform before it lowers!" Brooklynn yelled as we ran.

When we reached the platform, it had already begun to lower, if we wanted to get down, we were going to have to jump. "The next one won't be here for hours," Yaz said as we all stood there looking down at the hole where the platform was sinking into the ground. Then all of a sudden Brooklynn jumped, disappearing into the darkness.

"Brooklynn!" Kenji cried, but she was already gone. I looked over at Kenji before jumping in after her. "Lilly!" I heard both Kenji and Ben cry. And then I landed on the platform with a thud. "Ow," I mumbled as I stood up and saw Brooklynn smiling at me as she offered me a hand up. "Come on! Hurry!" she yelled up to the others after I was standing. "Yeah, guys! Come on!" I yelled up with a giggle. And then turned back to Brooklynn.

"You jumped in after me," she said. "Well, I trust you. And besides, I figured the platform wasn't too far down yet," I replied. "Thanks," Brooklynn whispered, as the others jumped onto the platform around us.

Soon enough the platform had reached the lower level where Darius and the med bay were supposed to be. "The med bay should be straight ahead," Brooklynn said looking at a tablet on the side of the wall before running down the hall. We all followed after her, and once we rounded the corner of the med bay I saw an elevator, it looked like Kash and Darius were in it, but Darius must have seen us because he jumped out right as the doors closed.

"Darius, your alive!" I cheered as I engulfed him in a hug along with the others. But the ding of the elevator caused us all to quickly let go of him and dart behind some storage containers. "How'd you make it down here?" Darius questioned once we were hidden. "Brooklynn. It was dicey for a minute, but she got us out of it," Kenji answered, and I rolled my eyes. Yeah, yeah make your girlfriend sound like the hero, I thought to myself. Brooklynn smiled at Kenji tucking a hair begin her ear before turning her attention back to Darius. I softly bumped Kenji with my shoulder shooting him a smirk and a thumbs up, only to earn an eye roll in return.

"What happened?" I heard Brooklynn ask Darius. "I was about to stop the fight, but the phone was right there. I'm sorry. I wanted to get us all home, but Kash caught me, and now we're still stuck, and the dinosaurs are hurt really bad and," Darius explained, but he started to spiral. "Darius," Yaz whispered cutting him off. "It's okay. You did what you thought was right. But it's like you said. We're the only ones who can help the dinosaurs here. We have to stay," she added with a sigh.

"On that note, we should get out of here before psycho killer comes back," Brooklynn said. "Wait," Darius said grabbing her shoulder. "Kash is planning on using Mae's language to control the dinosaurs," he explained. "What," Yaz exclaimed, "That's terrible," Sammy added. "How?" Kenji and I questioned. "Don't know. But it's got something to do with these chips," Darius said pulling a small clear bullet-shaped object out of his pocket. "Guys I know it sounds nuts, but I think the only way to find out how to stop this is if," Darius said but this time Brooklynn cut him off. "You stay here," Brooklynn said finishing Darius's sentence.

"Look if I run now, he'll hunt me down and find the rest of you. But if I'm on the inside," Darius explained. "You can find a way to get us information. Then we can do whatever we can to undo Kash's plans." Brooklynn added. "It makes sense," Kenji said hesitantly. "Ah! It's crazy. He tried to kill Mae. He'll do the same to you," Ben exclaimed. "He hasn't yet," Darius said trying to defend his plan. "No. No way. No way. We stick together, no one gets left behind," Yaz insisted. "Guy's he's coming back. We have to decide, like right now," Sammy's voice muttered.

"We don't have time for this. Listen I get why all of you are worried, but it's a good plan. At least for now. And it's the plan that keeps all of us the safest," I said. Everyone went silent and then slowly they began to nod.

"Okay," they all said, and then Darius ran off, back to the elevator. We watched as the doors opened and Kash stood there looking extremely annoyed. They talked for a moment and then Darius stepped into the elevator and the two disappeared as the doors slid closed.

This was going to be interesting.