Brooklynn just stared at Hap as if to say, “Yeah, like that’s ever gonna happen.”
“Look, I’m no angel,” Hap said. “I was paid to kill dinos. But Mitch and Tiff, they’re nuts. I’m not about to leave a bunch of kids here to die.”
As Hap stood waiting for an answer, Brooklynn conferred with Ben and Kenji. “Is he telling the truth about a garage?” she whispered.
“I don’t know,” Kenji said. “Maybe?”
“He’s lying,” Ben said. “I can smell it on him.”
In the weeks that Ben had survived alone in the dinosaur-filled jungle, he had smelled stuff that he never would have before. A ton of dinosaur dung, for starters. And grubs, which had a real particular smell that he no longer entirely hated—especially because he loved the taste. (You couldn’t be picky about things like that when you were trying to survive.) So it didn’t exactly surprise Brooklynn and Kenji when Ben said that he could smell Hap lying.
“If he’s telling the truth, Darius, Sammy, and Yaz are in big trouble,” Kenji replied. “We have to trust him.”
* * *
“You’re not ecotourists,” Darius said. “You’re—”
Mitch smiled, holding an ACU tablet. “Big-game hunters, yeah,” he said. “Honestly, I’m glad you’ve seen this, Darius. Friends shouldn’t lie to each other.”
“You said you got our distress beacon!”
“Oh yeah, no idea what that is. But we didn’t want you to start asking questions. And hey, it all ended up working out. Bought this ACU tablet. It was supposed to help us track the dinos, but—”
“The grid’s down,” Darius said.
“Uh-huh. And despite Hap coming highly recommended, he’s been pretty useless at finding dinos. He doesn’t know half the stuff about them—or the island—that you do. So now you can help us!”
“How could you possibly think I’d help you kill dinosaurs? I thought you cared about them!”
“I do,” Mitch said, a look of wonder crossing his face. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this. Living, breathing dinosaurs up close and personal? But Isla Nublar is under quarantine. The dinosaurs, they’ve been abandoned. Forgotten. We’re the last people to ever see them. I’m trying to preserve the memory of Jurassic World.”
Darius looked at Mitch sadly.
“Don’t you get it?” Mitch said, his voice rising. “Thanks to us, these magnificent creatures will live on forever!”
“By mounting their heads on your wall!” Darius protested.
The smile fell away from Mitch’s face as he grabbed Darius, shoving him toward the exit. “I’m disappointed. I really thought we understood each other, D. But I’ll make this easy for you.”
Mitch and Darius stepped outside the yurt, where Tiff was standing behind Sammy and Yasmina.
“You help us bag the dinosaurs we want, and we’ll take you and your friends home. You don’t…and we leave you all here. Abandoned and forgotten, just like the dinos.”
Mitch leaned down, looking Darius in the eyes. Then he smiled. “So, Darius? What’s it gonna be?”
“Well, at least she knows how to tie a knot,” Hap said.
Brooklynn, Kenji, and Ben were trekking through the jungle toward the garage, with Hap in tow. Brooklynn had retied the vines around Hap, and Ben was leading the big-game hunter with another vine tied to him like a leash.
“I’m telling you, he’s leading us into a trap,” Ben said.
Ben handed the leash off to Brooklynn as he went ahead to wrangle Bumpy. Kenji walked onward, wondering if Ben was right. After all, the kid had survived for weeks out in the jungle alone. And if he could do that then maybe he knew what he was talking about with Hap, too.
“You hate this, don’t you?” Hap said with a certain grim pleasure. “Not knowing the truth. Not knowing if you can trust me.”
“Because you’ve done such a bang-up job acting trustworthy,” Brooklynn jabbed.
“Serves me right,” Hap said. “Couldn’t make up my mind what to do with you either, until it was too late. Your pals were ready to swallow lies, but you needed to know the truth. Even if it puts you at odds with everyone.”
Brooklynn whirled around. “You don’t know anything about me!”
“Of course I do. You’re like me,” Hap said. “Unrelenting, suspicious…and able to make the hard calls ’cause of it. I’m asking you to make a hard call now. I am not your enemy.”
Brooklynn stared at Hap, taking a long, deep breath. She couldn’t read his face, and it made her angry.
“Brooklynn, look!”
She turned at the sound of Kenji’s voice and went up ahead. With Hap in tow, Brooklynn stepped through some foliage and saw a large garage.
“Believe me now?” Hap said.
Just as the kids and Hap approached the garage in search of a vehicle, Bumpy dug in her heels. She started to bellow loudly.
There was a brief moment of silence, followed by loud barking from the jungle…as three Baryonyxes emerged.
“This is bad,” Brooklynn whispered.
* * *
“This is great!” Mitch said. “I know it wasn’t easy, but you made the right choice. Thanks to you, we’ll be done in no time!”
Darius was leading the group through thejungle, clutching his field guide. Sammy and Yasmina walked with him as Mitch followed behind with a stun spear. He and Tiff were lugging big duffel bags full of gear, as well as a weapons bag.
Tiff grimaced as she slapped at a mosquito. “I never wanted kids, and now we’ve got three of them. And no guide!”
“We don’t need a guide, babe,” Mitch said. “We have Darius. And he’s taking us to, drumroll please…”
“The watering hole,” Darius said glumly.
“A one-stop dino-hunting shop!” Mitch hollered. “This kid is something. Didn’t I tell you this kid is something, Tiff?”
Darius looked like he was drowning. He was the one who had mentioned the watering hole to Mitch. So everything that was about to happen? That was his fault.
Sammy and Yasmina looked at each other in concern. Then Sammy glanced down at Yasmina’s injured ankle and blinked.
Picking up on Sammy’s meaning, Yasmina stopped walking, grabbing at her ankle. Tiff nearly ran into her.
“What?” Tiff said, exasperated.
“Ankle hurts. I need a break,” Yasmina said.
“Fine,” Tiff said, swatting away another mosquito. Mitch grabbed her gear while she kept on smacking her hand at the bugs.
“We can’t just go along with this,” Yasmina whispered to Darius. “We have to do something!”
“We only have two choices,” Darius said. “Help them and get back to our families, or don’t, and stay trapped here.”
* * *
“It’s locked!” Kenji said, frantically pulling on the handle of one of the garage doors.
The Baryonyxes were getting closer. They hadn’t seen the kids or Hap yet, but they were getting closer.
Trying to evade the dinosaurs, Brooklynn bumped up against the scanner next to the door. Suddenly, there was a soft BEEP as the door opened! At once, it dawned on Brooklynn, and she pulled out the key card she had found in Dr. Wu’s lab, smiling.
“Go-go-go!” Ben said as they dashed inside the garage, closing the door softly behind them.
Inside, all they could see were tires, crates, and gas cans. There were no big vehicles, but there was a motorcycle with a side car.
“It’s a master key!” Brooklynn said, staring at the key card. “It could open something in Wu’s lab. It could open everything!”
Hap turned to look at Kenji and Ben, confused. “What’s she talking about?”
Looking around, Brooklynn spotted another scanner near a small door. She pulled on the knob. It wouldn’t turn. So she waved the key card in fron
t of the pad. The small door still wouldn’t open.
But a pair of large garage doors on the other side of the room did.
And as they slowly crept upward, Brooklynn saw the three Baryonyxes standing there. The creatures turned their heads, looking at the group.
Then they ran.
“Shut the door!” Kenji shouted as Bumpy brayed loudly.
Brooklynn swiped the key card over the pad, but the door just kept on opening.
“How do we get out of here?” Ben shouted.
The motorcycle roared out of the garage, leaving the three Baryonyxes very confused. Brooklynn was driving the motorcycle, while Kenji sat behind her, holding the stun spear. Hap, still tied up, was in the sidecar. Ben was riding Bumpy next to them.
Unfortunately, the Baryonyxes had not remained confused for long. They quickly gave chase and were gaining.
“Untie me,” Hap shouted. “I can help!”
Brooklynn turned her head to look at Hap, then over her shoulder. The Baryonyxes were even closer now.
“Trust me,” Hap said.
“Kenji—do it!” Brooklynn ordered.
“You’re sure? Like, sure sure?” Kenji asked.
Brooklynn nodded. Without another word, Kenji tugged a knot in the vine, releasing Hap. The hunter grabbed the stun spear from Kenji and stood up in the sidecar.
“We all make mistakes, right, kid?” Hap said. “I’m making up for mine right now. You kids…live a good, long life.”
Before Brooklynn could do anything, Hap unclamped the sidecar from the motorcycle. The bike raced forward, freed of the extra weight. She watched helplessly as Hap drifted behind, leaping from the sidecar with the stun spear.
Now it was just Hap against the Baryonyxes. They closed in around him as the kids pulled away.
The motorcycle was heading into the grassland at the edge of the jungle. Kenji managed one last look over his shoulder and saw the Baryonyxes leap at Hap.
“Hap,” Kenji said. “He…”
“He made the hard call,” Brooklynn said, forcing back her tears.
* * *
The rustling sound grabbed everyone’s attention. All at once, Darius was on alert.
Mitch and Tiff crouched down low, grabbing the kids as they ducked behind some foliage. Dropping their bags, Tiff pulled out a rifle and passed it to Mitch, then took one for herself.
Stepping out from the jungle was a grazing Stegosaurus, lumbering slowly.
“Perfect,” Tiff said.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Mitch agreed.
“Take the shot before it gets away,” Tiff urged.
As the “ecotourists” raised their rifles, Darius suddenly had an idea. He flipped through his field guide, stopping on a particular page. He smiled at Yasmina and Sammy, and they nodded.
Mitch was taking aim and already squeezing the trigger when Darius jumped to his feet and whistled.
The Stegosaurus immediately looked up and, seeing Darius, started to charge!
“Look out!” Mitch cried as he and Tiff dove out of the way. Sammy and Yasmina grabbed Darius, yanking him to safety just as the Stegosaurus thundered their way, stomping on a duffel bag.
“You!” Mitch screamed, staring at Darius.
The Stegosaurus slammed its tail on the ground, right between Mitch and Tiff.
The kids raced off, Darius still clutching the field guide in his hand.
The Stegosaurus was behind them, and Darius took a deep breath—just as Tiff and Mitch jumped out from behind the brush. Mitch snagged Darius with a free hand, while Tiff threw her weapons bag at Sammy, knocking her to the ground.
Tiff lashed out, her hand catching Yasmina.
Mitch dragged Darius over to the other kids, but Darius pretended to stumble. In that moment, he tore a page from his field guide and shoved it into Yasmina’s waiting hand.
Turning, Yasmina rammed her elbow right into Tiff’s stomach, causing her to fall to the jungle floor! Yasmina started to run, but Tiff grabbed her bad ankle. Then, from out of nowhere, Sammy tackled Tiff. Yasmina was free!
Yasmina hesitated for a moment, but Sammy shouted, “Go!”
The track star took off, disappearing into the jungle.
Mitch and Tiff glowered at Darius and Sammy.
“I trusted you, Darius,” Mitch said. “And you betrayed me! You had a simple choice, and you chose to save dinosaurs over your friends?”
“I didn’t,” Darius said. “I’m saving us all.”
“What the heck is that supposed to mean?” Mitch said.
Tiff sneered and shoved Darius into Sammy. Then she took the stun spear from her partner.
“It doesn’t matter,” Tiff said. “He’s still taking us to the watering hole. Because now, we aren’t asking.”
Tiff smiled as she activated the stun spear, holding it inches away from Darius and Sammy.
Yasmina hadn’t sprinted this hard since…since before she hurt her ankle. She was running full out, completely ignoring the splint on her leg. As she pounded the ground, her footfalls grew faster and faster, her momentum carrying her along.
She was going so fast that the splint on her ankle cracked, breaking off.
Yasmina skidded around a tree. Her eyes grew wide as she almost collided with Brooklynn and Kenji on their motorcycle!
Brooklynn hit the brakes, and she and Kenji jumped off the motorcycle, allowing it to fall to the ground.
“Yaz!” Kenji cried. “What happened?”
“Where’s Sammy and Darius?” Brooklynn asked.
“Tiff and Mitch have them,” Yasmina said, panting for air. “They think Darius is leading them to the watering hole so they can kill all the dinosaurs there.”
“Darius would never do that,” Kenji said.
Yasmina took a series of short breaths and looked at the slip of paper that Darius had shoved into her hand. Opening it up, she saw that it was a map of the Park, with a smudge on one location.
“You’re right. He’s not taking them to the watering hole. He’s leading them there,” Yasmina said, pointing to the smudge.
She was pointing at Main Street.
The home of the T. rex.
“Wait, what?!” Brooklynn exclaimed. “He’s taking Tiff and Mitch to Main Street?!”
Before Yasmina could say a word, a group of bushes parted, and out popped Ben and Bumpy. Ben nodded and offered his hand for a handshake.
Yasmina stared at him like she was seeing a ghost. Her hand trembled as she held it out to him. As soon as Ben grasped her hand, she let herself be pulled to her feet without taking her eyes off him. Once she was standing, Yasmina threw her arms around Ben and hugged him tight. “You’re…,” she began. Ben smiled as she continued to squeeze. Despite it all, he was glad to be back, too.
“Yeah, yeah, Ben’s alive—we’re very happy about it,” Brooklynn said impatiently. “But in more pressing news, Darius isn’t taking the hunters to the watering hole!”
She showed Ben the page from Darius’s journal. “Why would he take them straight to the T. rex?” Ben asked. Something about it just didn’t sit right with him.
Kenji’s eyes lit up. “Home-court advantage. Darius and Sammy know the terrain, and Tiff and Mitch don’t. It’ll be easier to lose them on Main Street than in the jungle.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Yasmina said. “Let’s go help them!”
* * *
The only way the group could get to Darius and Sammy in time would be if they took a shortcut. And the only shortcut available to them was the series of underground maintenance tunnels they had explored weeks ago.
The tunnels were often roamed by not-so-friendly dinosaurs, but thankfully, this trip proved uneventful—until they reached the huge security gate. It wouldn’t open.
“It’s not
budging,” said Ben as Bumpy hit the door with her tail. He knew exactly how hard Bumpy could hit, too—the dinosaur had slammed her tail into Toro’s ribs during their battle. So if she couldn’t make so much as a dent in the door, then it wasn’t moving.
Each kid took turns pounding on it, to no avail. If they couldn’t get past this gate, then they’d never get to Main Street in time.
A moment later, Ben turned his head to the side. “What is that?”
Brooklynn looked at Ben, and then she heard the noise, too. Squinting her eyes, she looked into the shadows and saw a small door she hadn’t noticed before. She walked over and put her ear to the door. There was a humming sound coming from the other side.
Next to the door was a small keypad, and Brooklynn smiled. She waved her key card over the pad, and the door opened with a WHOOSH!
The kids were stunned to enter a tunnel with working lights—electricity! Suddenly, a blast of freezing-cold air hit them.
“Whoa!” Ben said with a shiver. “It’s cold enough in here—”
“To freeze flowers,” Brooklynn finished.
“This isn’t the watering hole,” Mitch said through gritted teeth. “Does this look like a watering hole, babe?”
Tiff grasped a spear in her hands as the couple advanced on Darius and Sammy, dropping the duffel bags they’d been carrying in the middle of Main Street.
“Sure doesn’t, babe,” Tiff replied.
“Oh, it’s just through this—” Darius started to say.
“Don’t lie to me, Darius,” Mitch interrupted.
“I swear,” Darius said. “I wouldn’t toy with you.”
Sammy raised an eyebrow at the word “toy” and then looked around. They were standing right in front of the gift shop, and there was a shelf full of toys right behind them.
Tiff took a step forward, forcing Sammy and Darius to take a step back, right into the shelf.
Camp Cretaceous, Volume Two Page 6