Camp Cretaceous, Volume One

by Steve Behling

  “They’re herding them back to their nighttime enclosures,” Roxie explained.

  “Enough banter!” Dave said. “It’s zip-line party time!”

  * * *

  “Maybe Yasmina should go first,” Ben said as he was strapped into the zip-line harness. He teetered atop the edge of the zip-line tower, doing his best to defy gravity and physics and remain on the tower. “Or anyone? I really don’t—”

  Before Ben could protest any further, Dave clapped the kid on his back, sending him down the zip line.

  Ben screamed the whole way down, and so did the other kids. Except the other kids screamed the “Woo-hoo! This is so cool!!!” kind of screams, while Ben’s scream was more like “This is all a colossal mistake, and I am going to die!”

  Darius couldn’t wait for his turn on the zip line. From the moment he went over the edge and zoomed above the forest below, he was awestruck. Below him, birds were flying. As Darius got closer to the ground, he felt like he was one of the dinosaurs! He even made eye contact with a Brachiosaurus on the way down. Darius wondered, Can anything top this experience?

  When the kids got back to camp, they were exhausted. They all wanted to go to sleep so they could see what surprises tomorrow would bring.

  Everyone, that was, except Darius. He was awake, looking out the window at a dinosaur enclosure. He snuck out of his bunk and into the common room on his way out of the tree house.

  Until his father had passed away, it had been their dream to come to Jurassic World—not just to see the dinosaurs, but to be with the dinosaurs. And now those prehistoric creatures they had obsessed over were so close. Leaving the camp would be crazy, but—

  “Hey there, Dino Nerd,” Kenji said, yawning. “Whatcha doin’?”

  “Huh?” Darius said, trying to think fast. “Nothing. I was just…uh…heading out…’cause…thirsty.”

  Kenji’s eyes didn’t leave Darius, and he pointed at a nearby watercooler.

  “Look, bro,” Kenji said, putting his arm around Darius’s shoulders. “I don’t want you to be intimidated by me just because I’m rich, my father owns a few condos on the island, and I’m rich.”

  “I’m not intimidated by you,” Darius replied sincerely.

  “Oh, good!” Kenji said. “I want us to be friends. And friends tell each other stuff—for instance, what they’re doing out of bed after curfew.”

  “I think you best get your arm off me, friend,” Darius said, his anger rising.

  “Oh. Why don’t you make me, friend?”

  “Huh,” Brooklynn said from the doorway. “So this is what toxic masculinity looks like.”

  “Sorry we woke you,” Darius said. “I—”

  “He was sneaking out,” Kenji said. “But I set him straight. I try to look out for younger kids.”

  “I’ve been waiting my whole life to get here,” Darius said. “And I’m gonna make the most of it.”

  Then he pointed at the window, toward the dinosaur enclosure. “Those lights must be coming from the Compy enclosure. I just gotta check it out!”

  Darius watched as Brooklynn raised an eyebrow and fiddled with her phone. “Sneaking out to see dinosaurs in the dead of night, mad danger of getting caught, great mood lighting…I guess that means…it’s a late-night dino exclusive, Brooklanders! We’re going rogue!”

  * * *

  “Shhhh!” Brooklynn said to her camp mates as a worker next to the enclosure turned his head. Not hearing anything, the worker kept on moving. Then a truck left the enclosure.

  Soon, Darius, Kenji, and Brooklynn were walking along a gangplank above the dinosaur enclosure. If they had been just a little lower, they would have seen this sign below them: WARNING: EXTREME DANGER.

  “Hey, Brooklynn!” Kenji said in a loud whisper. “You can get a good shot from over here. Allow me!”

  “No thanks,” Brooklynn replied. “I can—”

  Kenji reached for the phone. Brooklynn tried to keep her grip on it, but the phone fell onto the walkway below with a metallic clang.

  “Thanks, Kenji,” Brooklynn said. “Real smooth.”

  “Relax. I’ll get it,” Kenji said.

  Darius protested, but Kenji swung over the railing and climbed down the bars to the walkway below. Then he picked up the phone.

  “See?” Kenji said. “Good as new.”

  Brooklynn looked furious. “Great. Now just climb back up and gently hand it to me.”

  “Sure, sure,” Kenji said. “Right after I get a sweet dino pic for your followers.”

  Darius looked at the Compsognathus pen. Something was wrong. For one thing, there were a lot of footprints on the ground that looked bigger than a Compy’s. For another, there were claw marks on the trees and a big pile of bones on the ground.

  “Guys, this isn’t the Compy pen!” Darius whispered urgently.

  “Quiet, junior!” Kenji said loudly. “The grown-ups are talking.”

  Then Kenji stuck his arm through the bars of the enclosure with the phone, taking pictures.

  “Ah, your followers are gonna love this! Here, Compy Compy Compy!” Kenji said.

  “THIS ISN’T THE COMPY PEN!” Darius hissed as loudly as he dared.

  Kenji’s arm was still inside the enclosure when the first Velociraptor appeared.

  Stunned, Kenji still managed to take a picture with Brooklynn’s phone. The flash angered the Raptor, who charged. Falling back, Kenji yanked his arm away from the bars as the Raptor slammed into them.

  “Open the gate!” Kenji shouted. He yanked hard on the doors that led out of the enclosure, but they wouldn’t budge.

  Darius looked down and saw a control panel. But he had no idea which button would open the doors to free Kenji!

  Brooklynn didn’t, either. But that didn’t stop her from slamming one of the buttons with her hand. Suddenly, lights flashed, sirens blared, and doors started to open.

  Except they weren’t the doors that led out of the enclosure. They were the doors separating Kenji from the Raptor. Now there was nothing between Kenji and his would-be attacker.

  Looking down, Darius saw an exhaust pipe right by the Raptor. Kicking down hard, he managed to dislodge the pipe, releasing a blast of white-hot steam on the Raptor!

  Leaping down, Darius hit the ground, landing near Kenji.

  The steam drifted off, revealing the Raptor was still there. Except she was joined by three more Raptors. And they all looked hungry.

  * * *

  “It’s okay, it’s okay…,” Darius repeated. “We’re all okay….”

  Behind him, Kenji cowered, as Darius stood between him and the ferocious Raptors. Darius’s palms were up, like he was trying to say to the dinosaurs, “Hey, easy, guys.”

  “Kenji,” Darius said, not taking his eyes off the Raptors, “those bones…check for a Raptor skull.”

  He nodded toward a nearby pile of dinosaur bones.

  “What?” Kenji said, as if Darius had just asked him to stick his hand in an unflushed toilet.

  “In the video game, I—”

  One of the Raptors, the one who seemed to be their leader, got closer, snapping and hissing. Blue and silver marking started at its yellow eyes and went down each side of its body. Alarmed, Darius flinched, tripping and falling over a branch.

  The Raptors were drawing closer and were practically on top of Darius. He still held his hands up, but they were shaking.

  Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash. All around the enclosure, floodlights turned on!

  Now it was the Raptors’ turn to flinch. They hissed and closed their eyes to the bright lights.

  “Hey! Come and get it!”

  It was Roxie! Darius looked up and saw her standing next to Brooklynn. She had something in her hands and tossed it into the enclosure toward the Raptors. The dinosaurs scrambled for t
he thick slab of meat she had thrown in.

  “Get outta there!” Roxie ordered, as Dave burst into the enclosure. He grabbed both kids and dashed out before the Raptors could lose interest in the cold meat.

  The door to the enclosure slammed shut.

  “Dave, that was…,” Darius started. He wasn’t sure what he should say. “You were amazing. Thank you so much.”

  “Standard procedure, Darius,” Dave said, smiling as if it was an everyday occurrence. He continued to grin for another moment before turning around and throwing up in the bushes.

  “Are you hurt?” Roxie asked, ignoring Dave and rushing over to Darius and Kenji. “Is everyone all right?”

  Dave held up a hand to indicate that he was fine, but Roxie was only focused on the kids.

  Darius was about to say something when he noticed Kenji trying to sneak away. Roxie grabbed him by the shoulder. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Where do you think you’re going?”

  Then she spun Kenji around, and she stared him in the face. “You and Darius are in big trouble.”

  “I…I…But he was—” Darius stuttered.

  “Save it,” Roxie said, cutting him off. “We’ll decide what to do with you later. If you even get to remain here after a stunt like this.”

  Darius couldn’t believe it. After all the years of wanting to come to Jurassic World, to see dinosaurs, after playing that game for hours and hours, suddenly, it might all come to an end.

  And it was all his fault.

  * * *

  Kenji sat on the couch in the common room, making annoying popping sounds with his mouth.

  It was driving Darius nuts.

  “How could you do something so stupid?” Darius said, losing it.

  Kenji made the mouth-popping noise again. “Maybe it wasn’t my best idea,” he admitted. “Look, I don’t want to get kicked out, either. When my dad…”

  The mention of Kenji’s father got Darius’s attention, and he looked at the other kid.

  “My whole life, I’ve been trying to make him proud,” Kenji said. “If he finds out that I messed up again, he might…finally give up on me for good.”

  Darius didn’t quite know what to say, when Roxie and Dave walked into the common room.

  “We gave Brooklynn a warning for sneaking out,” Dave began, “but what you two chuckleheads did—”

  “Especially you, Kenji!” Roxie interjected. “Your recklessness put your, Darius’s, and Dave’s lives in danger! We should call your parents and tell them!”

  “It was my fault!” Darius said, interrupting Roxie. “I jumped into the pit. Kenji was…trying to save me.”

  Kenji shot Darius a surprised look, then nodded, going along with it.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, not believing a word of it. “So Darius, the dino genius…was saved by Kenji, the kid who thinks dinosaurs went extinct because, and I quote, ‘Their farts turned the air trashy.’ ”

  “Prove me wrong, yo,” Kenji said, shrugging.

  Darius looked at Roxie. He didn’t want to lie to her. But under the circumstances, he didn’t know what else to do.

  Roxie looked into Darius’s eyes. He couldn’t meet her gaze.

  “Look, no harm, no foul,” Dave said. “Let’s chalk the whole thing up to experience. Lessons, friendships…this is what camp’s all about!”

  “Fine,” Roxie said, the tone of her voice suggesting that it was anything but fine. “But one more misstep…”

  “I…we won’t let you down,” Darius said. “So…what are we doing tomorrow?”

  * * *

  “Enjoy cleaning this up, boys,” Roxie said.

  Darius and Kenji were standing just outside the campgrounds in an area where there was an enormous mound of Apatosaurus droppings.

  Roxie handed shovels to the boys.

  “We’re going to the genetics lab,” Roxie said, indicating the other kids who would be having more fun. As they headed for the 6x4, Brooklynn stopped for a second. She snapped a pic of Kenji and Darius standing in front of the dinosaur poop.

  Then Dave tossed them a small bottle of something. Darius caught it. “Cologne,” Dave said. “That’ll help with the smell. The stench of dinosaur poo can really linger.”

  Dejected, Darius could only watch as the others took off for the genetics lab.

  “Gross,” Kenji said, looking at the dinosaur poop on his shoe.

  Welcome to Camp Cretaceous, Darius thought.

  While Darius and Kenji shoveled dinosaur dung, the other kids rumbled down the road in the 6x4. Ben sorted through his fanny pack as Brooklynn stared at her phone, thumbing through a series of videos she’d posted to Brooklynn Unboxes. Under each was a tally that represented the number of views.

  Instead of going up, indicating more people were watching, the numbers were going down.

  “I’m still dropping followers?” Brooklynn moaned.

  “So what’s your next video?” Sammy asked. “Oooh, maybe there’re baby dino eggs in the lab. Everyone loves a baby video!”

  “Whatever it is, it’ll be cool,” Brooklynn said with confidence that she really wasn’t feeling.

  As Brooklynn fretted over her followers, Ben was getting ready for the big visit. He hummed as he squirted something on his hands, arms, and even the zipper of his fanny pack.

  “Sanitizer,” Ben said. “Who knows what kind of creepy dino goo is at that lab? You gotta be ready for anything.”

  * * *

  The 6x4 arrived outside the genetics lab, and the kids got out, along with Roxie and Dave.

  “What’s good, Brooklanders?” Brooklynn said, filming. “Today, I’m coming to you from one of Jurassic World’s coolest remote genetics labs, aka where the dinos are made!”

  Brooklynn waved the phone around so her followers could see the large industrial building. The lab itself was hidden behind concrete pillars and metal grating.

  “This is a rare window into the Park’s inner workings,” Roxie said to the kids. “Not just anyone can come h—”

  “Doc Wu!” Dave shouted.

  A neatly dressed dark-haired man in the lab—Dr. Wu—suddenly looked like he had eaten a lemon soaked in even more lemon. He pretended not to see Dave or the kids and just kept on walking.

  Roxie shot Dave a look, then chased after the famed scientist. “We’re here for the tour, Dr. Wu. Camp Cretaceous? Ms. Dearing should’ve mentioned—”

  “I’m sorry, but Mr. Masrani has accelerated the timetable for our newest exhibit yet again,” Dr. Wu said, annoyed. “I simply don’t have time to spend the afternoon babysitting children.”

  Sammy frowned, while Brooklynn filmed the doctor’s outburst.

  “Young lady, no recording in the lab!” Dr. Wu ordered.

  “Sorry, Doctor. I just wanted my followers to meet the genius who brought dinosaurs back to life,” Brooklynn said, making her eyes go wide with adoration.

  Dr. Wu raised an eyebrow.

  “I mean, without you, there is no Jurassic World. But hey, if you wanna toil in the shadows while Masrani and John Hammond get all the credit, I respect that. It’s about the work.”

  Brooklynn could see that she had hit a nerve. Dr. Wu leaned in and asked, “How many people watch this web show of yours?”

  * * *

  “Thanks to you, I’m shoveling poop instead of watching a live dinosaur birth,” Darius said. “That’s only been my dream since, I don’t know, forever!”

  Darius dumped a shovelful of dung down a chute near a small containment tank. Instead of helping, Kenji was now squirting the cologne at insects like it was bug spray and swatting at big, fuzzy flies.

  “It’s cute you’re excited about some dumb lab,” Kenji said. “Newbs like you don’t know the half of what’s in this place.”

  “Like what?” Darius asked.
>
  Kenji shrugged and smiled slyly. Like he was in on some big secret and Darius wasn’t.

  “I’ve been to this park, like, fifty kajillion times,” Kenji said, swatting away a fly. “I’m in the know, junior. And since you helped me out earlier, I might be willing to show you the good stuff.”

  Darius clasped the shovel handle tightly. “No,” Darius said, shaking his head. “No way. I can’t get into more trouble.”

  “Hey, suit yourself,” Kenji said. “You’ve only been waiting a lifetime to see dinosaurs. I just thought you’d be interested in seeing one they stopped showing the public. It’s only a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

  Aw, crud, Darius thought.

  * * *

  “This tunnel is part of an underground network connecting the whole island,” Kenji said. “This is how the big dogs get around.”

  Kenji held on to the sides of the ladder and slid down into the tunnel below.

  “You’re actually looking at a Jurassic World VIP, kid,” Kenji said.

  Unsure, but not wanting to miss an opportunity, Darius climbed down the ladder down carefully. He got the sense that this was a restricted area and definitely not part of any official activities that Roxie and Dave had planned for them—and that added to the excitement!

  Behind him, the tunnel hatch closed with a loud CLANG. Darius hoped he wouldn’t regret his decision.

  * * *

  While Brooklynn filmed Dr. Wu, Sammy pointed at a door in the distance.

  “Dr. Wu?” Sammy asked. “What’s that?”

  Dr. Wu hissed. “It’s restricted.”

  Meanwhile, Dave looked at an incubator filled with dinosaur eggs. “You guys, look!” he said. “I think one of the eggs is about to hatch!”

  “That’s not possible,” Dr. Wu said, quite sure he was right. Except when he turned to look at the incubator, he realized that Dave was 100 percent right. An egg was hatching!