Assets Out of Containment |1| Nublar Seven Series

Ketchup and Fries

So, is this another Kayden chapter? Pfff, of course not, no way, right? Who am I kidding? These are my favorite kinds of chapters.

The sun had begun to show itself atop the trees, illuminating the camp. Yasmina was out on a run; Ben was playing with Bumpy; and Kenji was rummaging through our food. Brooklynn and Sammy were still asleep and Darius was on his bed, head deep on his notebook. I was sitting on the couch with a pile of Uno cards in front of me. The table was too uneven for me to build a house of cards, so I gave up.

A sudden thump made me jump. "Good morning fellow campers!" Sammy sat down across from me with a bright smile. "Whatcha doing, Hays?" I just shrugged and motioned to the pile of cards. "Oh, do you wanna play?"

"Uno got boring wouldn't you say?" I gave her a half smile.

"And what about some breakfast?" She turned to the one searching through our food. "What's good, Kenji?"

"I'm trying to find- Aha!" He pulled some packages from the food crate and tossed into a bag, out of view.

"So, Yaz and I are planning to go and search for a sail. Wanna come?" Sammy leaned over on her elbows, expectantly. "I'm sure Brooklynn will come too and will be just us girls."

I caught myself almost sighing at Sammy. It's not that I didn't want to go, but I was just so tired these days. I couldn't really get a good night's sleep. It was so stupid, but I kept imagining the Allosaurus coming back to finish the job. That made me think back at Brooklynn, I really had to ask how she was doing.

"Maybe next time?" I ran my fingers through my hair. "I promised Bumpy to go search for berries with her." Even though it was a lie, the prospect of spending some quality time with the Ankylo was appealing.

"Can I go?" Darius jumped at that, looking all hopeful at Sammy.

"How's the arm?" Sammy eyed him.

"Um..."

"You should rest." She said firmly. "It was a nasty thing that that dino did, you shouldn't push yourself."

"But-"

I left Darius to try and convince Sammy and I headed down to the grass, where Ben and Bumpy were chilling. I waved them hello, but didn't stop to chat. I headed for my punching tree and started to stretch my hamstrings.

By the time I was done with the stretching, Yasmina had returned and the girls headed out in search of a sail. I was training my high kicks when I heard someone approaching. I was about to dismiss them when I realized it was Kenji coming towards me with a big smile and a bag hanging on his shoulder.

"Hey Kenj, what's in the bag?" I smiled back.

"Hays! Just the girl I was looking for." He threw one lazy arm around my shoulders. "How'd you like to help me with an important task today?"

I bluntly ignored his arm around me, but didn't move away. "I'm kinda busy." I motioned at the punching tree.

He chuckled. "Those are some sad kicks you've got going on today."

"I'm just warming up." I shrugged, knowing he was right. "Besides, I have a thing to do with Bumpy."

"You mean the one drooly dino that just left with Jungle Boy?" He laughed and I peeked over his shoulder to where Ben and Bumpy were before, only to find the place empty. It was just Kenji and me, and Darius glancing expectantly at us from camp. "You're coming with." He promptly started to drag me along.

"Are you serious?" My voice showed my annoyance, but still, I didn't fight him. "Since when do you wanna do anything outside of camp?"

"Since I need some time-off from all these kids."