Assets Out of Containment |1| Nublar Seven Series

Beacon of Hope

Warnings: mention of violence, blood, negative thoughts, self-blaming.

With little food and sleep, all of us were functioning on automatic by now. After we discovered that we were left behind in this hell of an island, we had encountered a Parasaurolophus in the jungle; it had come a long way from the River Adventure. Then, we discovered the reason why: Rexy, the T. rex, was hunting it.

The apex predator had the usual carnivore build. She traveled in her muscular back legs, with her massive head balanced by a huge tail. The arms were hilariously small, but the sharp teeth made up for it. The Tyrannosaurus chased the Parasaurolophus vigorously, the earth shaking with every step.

Rexy was a dull gray and brown with faded strips on her back, she easily reached two stories tall and at least the double in length, a bit smaller than the Indominus, but just as scary. She had several scars marking her body; some already healed, others new, but most distinctively, she had claw marks going down her thick neck.

And to think that a dinosaur that size would be easy to spot in the jungle... we had been running for a while now and the T. rex had vanished from our sights.

"Is the Parasaurolophus still there?" Brooklynn asked; she and Sammy were helping out Yasmina, practically carrying the girl as we ran. Just as we turned to look, Rexy reappeared from the trees, chasing off the herbivore.

"Not anymore!" Kenji yelled.

"Over there! Cover!" Darius pointed to a huge fallen tree. We ran over to it and ducked behind the log. Luckily, Rexy was too busy with the Parasaurolophus to pay any attention to us. The T. rex let out a loud roar while the herbivore squealed in pain. We could hear the Tyrannosaurus' jaws snapping shut, crushing bones along with it. I winced at the sound and peeked over the tree. Rexy was dragging the dead dinosaur away by its head.

I kept my eyes glued onto the dinosaur until it disappeared into the thick jungle, only leaving a crimson trail behind.

"I think we're in the clear." I whispered and slumped back to the ground. Everybody sighed in relief and relaxed in their crouched positions. I shut my eyes and rested my head on the log for a bit. I felt the adrenaline that was pumping in my veins leaving me. The pain started to set in yet again, the throbbing in my back and now my arm had begun to sting a bit. The headache was new, though. But what could I expect? I always had migraines when dehydrated, and I didn't even remember when was the last time water touched my lips. That or the fact that we hadn't had any rest since camp got destroyed.

"Why are there so many dinosaurs around?" Kenji grunted, laying on the grass.

"Well, it's either your boyish charm or all the fences on the island are down." Brooklynn suggested.

"No offense, but it's definitely option two." Sammy said.

"I don't even care." Yasmina sighed. "Right now, I just want a sandwich. We haven't eaten since we had those awful carob bars that Ben-" She stopped herself mid-sentence. "I-I..." She glanced over to me before looking down at the grass.

I tugged on my arm's bandage, which was soaked in fresh blood. It had opened up again at the brawl with Toro. Now, it was only a reminder of the monorail incident. Before I could delve much in thought, a distant roar caught our attention.

The six of us groaned and stood up. "We're not safe here." I stated the obvious, my legs a bit shaky from the absence of adrenaline to keep me up.

"We need to eat and rest." Sammy said. "I can't keep running like this."

Darius ran ahead and peeked out from behind a tree. "We don't have to." He pointed to the conical shaped building that rose from atop the tree line. "There's bound to be a way to call for help on Main Street, and food and everything else. Come on!" He smiled brightly and motioned for us to follow him.