Jungle Girl

Survival Instincts

Without Bumpy, Ben and Scar still continued to have the same routine, but, quicker than before, even with Scar, Ben was still a scared mess, Compies roamed the areas they stayed, ready to bite and inflict there venomous effects. It wouldn't be an issue if Scar were to be bitten, she was immunized against the venom by now. Dr. Wu would have them release Compies into her pen, giving her the feeling of surprise, seeing how she'd react to a new environment with something else in it. But, for Ben, if he were to be bitten...

Ben desperately wanted Bumpy to come back, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, a small creature in the wide jungle, Bumpy could've been anywhere, she could be back with the campers, she could be with more Ankylosauruses, she could've forgotten all about Ben, like how Ben would forget all about Scar. The bandages around Ben's arms and legs had been removed and his mobility was back to the way it was. Ben carried this stick around, hoping to smack the next Compy like a baseball across a playing field. "Give." said Scar as Ben was hidden under his shelter. "What?" Ben looked at Scar.

"This?" He asked, gesturing towards the long stick.

Scar nodded. "No! You can't have it." Ben said, gripping onto the stick. "Suit self." Scar said, pulling one of her spears from inside the fallen down log. "Could have this." Scar was trying to persuade Ben. "But, seem you no want it." Scar said.

"You and lame stick fight off Compy." Scar strolled away with her spear in her hand, Scar's legs no longer dragged behind her. "Guess you all protected." Scar leisurely replied. "Don't need me. You have stick. Ah! Stick. That what Compy'll say."

Was Ben really being persuaded by a girl from the jungle? A girl who could barely speak good English?

"Wait! I'll—I'll take it!" Ben replied, crawling out from under his shelter. "Course you will." Scar stopped walking, turning around and pushing the spear towards Ben. Ben picked the spear up, feeling its weight, thinking of the possibility he could do. "What if I wasn't here?" asked Scar. "You have no survival." Scar openly said. "You can't let fear consume." She said, "Fear has to turn into something." Scar said, "For I, fear turn to hope. For you, fear must turn into survival." added Scar.

"You angry at the island, aren't you?" Scar asked Ben, who couldn't always understand what she was saying, but, somehow, she always made sense. "Island take away friends. Island take away living."

"Be mad, Ben." Scar said, "Be really mad."

Ben was mad, Ben was oh so mad.

"Maybe not mad now, but soon, anger will come."

"Now give me that lame stick." Scar said.

Ben didn't say anything, only thinking about her words, Ben pushed the stick over to Scar, allowing her to carve away at it, turning it into another spear. Scar had tried other ways to try to shake Ben's fear away, chasing him around in circles, yelling at him like a drill sergeant, Scar had realized, he needed to figure it out on his own time, so, she decided to let him do exactly that.

Later that night, it was a thunderstorm, strong winds, heavy rain, making the night cold and damp, Ben couldn't sleep, neither could Scar, both couldn't sleep for different reasons. Ben couldn't sleep because he didn't have the comfort of Bumpy and both the Compies and the thunder were the loudest thing out there. Scar couldn't sleep because she was desperately waiting for something exciting to happen, for her to be in on the action. Scar didn't like mulling around, not doing anything or doing the same thing over and over again.

That night was the night the Compies decided to attack, surrounding Ben and Scar, around the makeshift shelter, Ben yelped out, crawling around the small area of his shelter, being cornered and corrupted with fear. What was there to do? Ben couldn't run, he couldn't hide, he couldn't rely on Scar, who pretended to be asleep, though, she wasn't. Ben faced with fear and the screeching of the Compies, he channeled his anger and his frustration.

The island took everything away from him, his friends, his normal ways of living, this island gave him nothing, yet, it was giving him everything.

Ben grabbed Scar's spear and yelled out, swinging the spear towards the Compies, screaming and yelling, a noisy thing for Scar to hear, but, for once, she was happy to hear loud noises if it had meant Ben found his survival instinct. Ben briefly chased after the Compies', smacking Scar's spear off the ground, not wanting to throw it so it wouldn't be lost. Ben had scared the Compies away. "Yeah! That's right! You're scared of me now!" Ben yelled out in victory falling down to his knees, who was gonna hear him anyways?

Ben screamed again, followed by the crack of thunder. From that point on, Ben's fear had turned to survival. Relying less on Scar and more on himself. But, Scar was happy to help if Ben needed it. "Just use the rock and shave pieces off." Scar said, she had been helping Ben make his first spear. "Like this?" Ben scraped the rock off of the tip of the stick.

"Yes, very good for first time."

In return, for everything that Scar had done, Ben had taught her better English, allowing her to express herself in a better, much clearer way. Even if Scar didn't use the language often, she'd still have the ability to speak her mind, which is more helpful than she thought. It was still a little broken here and there, however, it was better than before. Another thing that Scar had helped Ben with, was find food.

Showing him where to find the best grubs and hunting grounds, it never occurred to Ben to hunt for dinosaurs, mainly because of Darius and that's not what normal people eat, but, being that dinosaurs were the only main source of meat, it would have to do. Scar decided to eat the meat raw, Ben cooking the meat over the fire, since it was his first time eating something like this. The smell of the cooked meat over the fire intrigued Scar, it smelled familiar in a way, it tasted that was too. To Scar, it was neither good nor bad, it was different, just different.

But, there was one last thing Ben still had to do, and you could say Scar had to do this to; defeat the Carnotorus. Scar fought Toro many times, it'd be stupid for her to do it again. The Carnotorus was the biggest thing that gave Ben fear, Ben had lots of small things that used to give him fear, the Carnotorus and every other dinosaur at the top of the list. Ben went down to the stream, wetting his hands and tracing mud over his face, for fun, Ben has put two lines under Scar's eyes with his thumbs like a football player, the mud was cold, making Scar's face scrunch up slightly.

Scar would not be joining Ben on his Carnotorus expedition, rather, moral support if things went wrong. Ben sharpened his spear with a rock before going off to look for Toro. Ben returned, not too long after, a cut to his shoulder, something that he or Scar could easily repair. But, Ben had returned with something else, excitement and Bumpy. "I did it! I defeated Toro!" Ben exclaimed as a full grown Bumpy groaned to his side.

Scar had picked up a scent the next day, "What is it?" Ben asked, "Humans." Scar said. "Adult humans."

Ben and Scar followed the clues of new human life.

Something rather unusual was going on.