Camp Cretaceous, Volume Two

by Steve Behling

  “You little…,” Tiff said, snarling. “Do you two think this is some kind of jo—”

  “NOW!” Darius shouted.

  The kids whipped around, pushing the shelf full of battery-operated dinosaur toys right into Mitch and Tiff. The toys came alive with lights and sounds, startling the “ecotourists.” Mitch’s weapons bag slid off his shoulder, and Sammy snatched it away. She took off running down Main Street, with Darius right behind her.

  In seconds, the kids had disappeared into the shadows.

  “The plan…actually…worked,” Sammy said as Darius helped her with the weapons bag.

  “Not yet,” he said, panting. “We have their guns, but we still gotta lose…them.”

  “Kids! Darius? Come back! We just wanna talk!” Mitch called out.

  Darius and Sammy looked at each other, knowing that was probably the last thing Mitch wanted. They started to run faster as Darius said, “Split up!”

  “Where’d they go?” Tiff growled.

  Stopping for a moment, Mitch looked into the darkness, then pointed. “There!”

  The couple saw Sammy and Darius take off in different directions. Tiff went after Sammy, while Mitch headed for Darius.

  * * *

  “What is all this?” Yasmina asked, puzzled.

  The kids had emerged inside a musty room with low lighting. They could just make out that they were in a command center of some kind. There were large control panels everywhere, along with multiple viewing monitors. None of the equipment was on, but the background hum of electricity was still there.

  Kenji looked around and saw a symbol on the wall that he instantly recognized. “Oh, snap! This must be, like, some kinda secret backup power center!”

  “We gotta find a way to raise that gate and get to Sammy and Darius,” Brooklynn said. “Start looking!”

  At once, the group started to flip switches and turn dials.

  But nothing happened.

  “None of these are the right buttons,” Ben lamented.

  “One of them has to be!” Brooklynn said. “I once helped a seamstress find an actual needle in an actual haystack. I can find this!”

  Kenji kept looking and saw what appeared to be a breaker box on the wall. Pulling it open, he saw a large lever inside. Holding his breath, Kenji threw the lever up.

  Suddenly, the room came to life. Lights turned on, computers hummed, monitor screens flickered.

  The electricity in Jurassic World was back on. The moment the lever was thrown, electricity zipped through miles and miles of underground wires. Most of the wires led to the various systems that supported the Jurassic World theme park itself—street lights, security systems, rides, theaters, the monorail, and more.

  And some of those long wires led to a dark, windowless room far beneath the ground, where fans were whirring away to keep the area cold.

  The wires that led into the room continued toward the bottom of a large glass tank.

  The lights and the fans suddenly turned on, then turned off just as quickly. The wires attached to the tank sparked.

  The room went dark.

  Inside the tank, something sat frozen. But with the fans no longer cooling, the temperature started to rise.

  A crack could be heard from inside the tank, like ice slowly starting to thaw.

  But what was inside the ice?

  Darius and Sammy had managed to hide from Mitch and Tiff so far, but they knew their luck couldn’t last forever. It was Darius’s turn to carry the weapons bag, and he shouldered it as they made a break for the exit. As they neared the edge of Main Street, they could see the jungle. Another few steps and—

  “Having a Jurassic day! Don’t forget, all pastries are half off after four at Cafe Tricera-muffin-tops, located next to the Lagoon.”

  The kids stared at each other as if to say, “How did that happen?!”

  Then the large lights on Main Street turned on. The light was blinding after so long without electricity, and Darius dropped the duffel bag. They shielded their eyes, unaware that Mitch and Tiff were right across the street!

  * * *

  “You guys! Look!” Yasmina shouted as she pointed at a monitor. There were Darius and Sammy standing on Main Street. The kids let out a loud cheer, overjoyed to see their friends again.

  But the smiles faded when Mitch and Tiff appeared on the monitor.

  “Darius! Sammy! Behind you!” Brooklynn shouted.

  “Save your breath,” Ben said, shaking his head. “They can’t hear us!”

  “Where’s the stupid speaker button?” Brooklynn said, searching.

  The kids started pushing every button in sight, hoping to find the one that activated the Park’s PA system.

  “Wave if you can hear us!” Yasmina shouted hopefully into a speaker.

  * * *

  “It’s over,” Tiff said, advancing on the kids. “Don’t even think about running.”

  “Where did you think you were going?” Mitch taunted. “You think we wouldn’t be able to find you in the jungle?”

  “This isn’t a game, children,” Tiff said, fuming. “Give. Me. The. Weapons.”

  “We can’t let you shoot dinosaurs,” Darius said.

  “That’s not really your call, is it?” Mitch said, holding out his hands. “Give me the weapons, D. I’m not ask—”

  Before he could finish, a beeping sound came from Tiff’s pocket. She reached in and pulled out the ACU tablet.

  “Whoever turned on the power, thank you!” Tiff said. She looked at the screen, which once again displayed a map of the Park, indicating a small body of water. There were clusters of dots around the water.

  “Guess we don’t need you to show us where the watering hole is after all,” Mitch said.

  Darius got a look at the screen as well and noticed a blue dot, separate from the others. It was closing in on Main Street.

  “We have to go,” Darius said quietly.

  THUMP.

  The ground shook.

  “We have to go now,” Darius whispered with more urgency.

  But it was already too late. The group turned around only to see the T. rex advancing on them, growling, opening her mouth, baring her teeth.

  She could tell that prey was in her territory. And she was hungry.

  What happened next was a blur. Mitch lunged for the weapons bag, fighting Darius, who struggled to hold on. Mitch managed to get it, but Sammy snatched it back. Tiff was rooted to her spot, staring at the T. rex as it stalked closer and closer.

  Mitch finally grabbed the bag of weapons away from Sammy, but Darius tackled him.

  Then the T. rex roared, charging ahead.

  Mitch and Tiff were frightened beyond words and too scared to do anything. That gave Darius and Sammy the chance to grab the weapons and take off.

  But Mitch and Tiff recovered and chased after the kids. They caught up quickly and shoved them aside. The weapons bag slid across the street. Darius and Sammy tried to get it, but Mitch and Tiff were too fast—they got to the duffel bag first. Picking it up, they ran toward the exit.

  That left Darius and Sammy stranded on Main Street, with the T. rex headed their way.

  * * *

  “Come on, get up!” Yasmina muttered to the screen.

  “There’s gotta be another way we can help!” Brooklynn said.

  Kenji was busy reading the labels beneath the various systems. “Fence controls, automatic advertising loop, hologram…?”

  “How is that going to help them?” Ben asked.

  Brooklynn searched the control panels as well. Pounding on a button, she flinched as more Main Street pathway lights came on.

  That gave her an idea….

  * * *

  Darius and Sammy were running from the T. rex. They reached a fork in the pathway.
r />   “Which way?” Sammy asked, out of breath.

  Darius wasn’t sure, nodding in both directions, unable to decide. Suddenly, a light on the pathway flickered on. Then another. And another.

  “Follow the lights!” Darius said, realizing that someone must be turning them on. “They’re leading us out!”

  The kids continued down Main Street, following the lights as the came on one after another.

  They were almost at the gift shop now, with the T. rex gaining ground. Just as they reached it, Darius and Sammy were startled by another blue T. rex that had suddenly appeared in front of them!

  The kids kept on running, though—both realized exactly what it was, and they ran right through it.

  It was a hologram!

  While the kids weren’t fooled, the real T. rex was. Confused, she stopped in her tracks, staring at her blue doppelgänger.

  Darius and Sammy continued to run. They made it to the jungle as the two T. rexes roared at each other.

  “Did that really just happen?” Sammy asked. “Did we actually make it out alive?”

  “Uh, yeah,” Darius said. “But the lights were definitely not part of the plan.”

  Their attention was quickly drawn to a speaker above them, and the voice that said, “Testing. Testing.”

  It was Kenji!

  “Party people, what WHAAAAAAT?” Kenji cried out over the loudspeaker.

  “You guys! Where are you?” Sammy shouted.

  “We found a backup generator and turned the power back on,” Brooklynn said over the PA.

  * * *

  From inside the emergency control center, Brooklynn watched as Darius and Sammy waved their hands.

  “We can’t hear you,” Brooklynn said into the speaker. “What are you trying to say? What happened to Tiff and Mitch?”

  Sammy shouted again, pointing at something.

  “Still can’t hear you! Act it out!”

  Brooklynn watched curiously as Sammy and Darius were…what? Pretending to…drink water, was it?

  “Okay, uh, TV shows?” Kenji said as if they were playing charades. “Books. A song!”

  “They’re drinking water!” Ben said.

  “The watering hole!” Brooklynn gasped. “They’re going to the watering hole!”

  Both Darius and Sammy nodded as the two mimed holding weapons.

  “They’re going to kill the dinosaurs,” Brooklynn said softly.

  “You guys and Sammy take the boat while I go stop Mitch and Tiff!” Darius said.

  “Absolutely not!” Sammy said. “You’re going to get killed if you go it alone!”

  “I have to! This is all my fault! The only reason Mitch and Tiff know about the watering hole is because I showed them. I’m the one who didn’t listen to Brooklynn. The dinosaurs are in danger because of me. I promised everyone that I’d get you home. And I…I already lost Ben.”

  Sammy tried to think of something she could say to get Darius to stay, but she came up empty.

  “Hap said their boat is at the northwest dock. Get everyone together and get off the island now, while Mitch and Tiff are busy.”

  The PA came to life again, but this time, it wasn’t Brooklynn or Kenji talking.

  “We got your back, Darius! Forget the boat—Mitch and Tiff are going down!”

  “Ben?!” Darius said.

  “You’re alive?!” Sammy shouted.

  “Oh, riiiiight,” Ben said. “You didn’t know. Yeah. Also, we found the sound button, so we can hear you.”

  Sammy and Darius, overcome by the joy of learning Ben was alive, hugged each other.

  “We’re not going to let you do this alone,” Brooklynn said. “We’re in.”

  “You don’t get it,” Darius said. “You guys could get to the boat, save yourselves!”

  “You don’t get it,” Yasmina said over the PA. “You’re one of us.”

  “And we’re not going to let Mitch and Tiff get away with killing dinosaurs,” Brooklynn finished. “And if they’re going to the watering hole to kill dinosaurs…”

  Darius immediately understood what Brooklynn was getting at. “Then we just have to make sure there aren’t any dinosaurs there for them to kill!”

  * * *

  Kenji was steering the motorcycle, trying to balance the bike with both Darius and Sammy behind him. They were all wearing helmets, which was a good thing, because the way Kenji was driving, they were surely going to hit the ground.

  “Guys!” Brooklynn shouted over the PA, her voice coming from a speaker behind a rock. “Tiff and Mitch are about to get to the watering hole, and Ben and Yaz aren’t there yet!”

  Ben and Yaz had taken a still-functioning 6x4 from the command center. If their plan was going to work, it required all the vehicles to be at the watering hole at the same time.

  “How far away is the nearest tunnel?” Darius asked as Kenji stopped the bike.

  “If you go back the way you came a bit, there’s a tunnel entrance that would put you out in front of them,” Brooklynn said. She’d remained behind in the emergency control room to help direct the plan.

  Darius jumped off the bike. “You guys keep going to the watering hole. Meet up with Ben and Yaz like we planned. You’ll move faster without three kids on one bike. I’ll slow Mitch and Tiff down.”

  “Good luck, Dino Nerd!” Kenji said.

  The motorcycle took off as Darius opened the tunnel entrance.

  “Okay, Darius, what’s the plan?” Brooklynn said. “How can I help? Darius? Darius?”

  “Once this is done, get everyone out. Get them home.”

  Darius slid down the ladder and into the tunnel.

  “You noble dummy!” Brooklynn said, shaking her head as she watched Darius on the monitor. “You don’t have a plan, do you? You’re still trying to go it alone.”

  Brooklynn didn’t know what to do, but she knew she had to help—she couldn’t let Darius do this by himself. She got up from her command console and looked at the monitors. One of them showed the vehicle room where Yasmina and Ben had taken the 6x4.

  She saw a damaged gyrosphere.

  But on another monitor, she saw a long hallway labeled E-750.

  The number on the envelope she had found back at the genetics lab. The number she had seen on Dr. Wu’s computer. The mysterious number she had been trying to decode for weeks.

  Brooklynn had a choice to make.

  The sun had just appeared above the horizon as Mitch checked the ACU tablet. He and Tiff were nearly at the watering hole. And judging by all the little dots surrounding it, there was a full house.

  Tiff hacked away at plants with a machete, swatting away mosquitoes and muttering under her breath. As she slashed away the last bush, she expected to see the watering hole.

  And she did.

  Except, blocking her path was an unarmed Darius.

  “Hey, guys,” he said. “How’s the vacation shaping up?”

  “I assumed the T. rex would eat you,” Tiff said, rolling her eyes. “But I guess she has taste.”

  “Get out of the way, D,” Mitch said. “Be smart about this. The rest of your friends are deadweight, but you can still get out of here.”

  But Darius held his ground. “No. I’m gonna save them. And I’m gonna stop you. Whatever it takes.”

  “I liked you, Darius,” Mitch said, holding his rifle. “You’re a smart kid, but you can’t have it both ways. I told you you’d have to choose, and you made the wrong—”

  Before he could finish, a damaged gyrosphere exploded out of the jungle, spinning wildly, its gears grinding loudly. The ball hurtled to a stop right by Darius. The door opened, and Brooklynn stood beside Darius.

  “What the heck are you doing?” she said angrily. “I thought we were a team!”

  “I couldn�
�t put you guys in more danger,” he said. “This is my fault.”

  “No, Darius, you have been trying to get us home since the moment the Indominus rex broke out. The only thing you’re guilty of is keeping us all alive. And I’m sorry it took me this long to say that.”

  Darius shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. You were right to be suspicious.”

  The two smiled at each other as Tiff yelled, “Hey!”

  The two kids turned and saw Tiff waving her rifle in the air. “What is— We have guns! We’re threatening you!”

  “So, has this gone on long enough?” Darius asked.

  “I’d say just long enough!” Brooklynn answered.

  Mitch and Tiff exchanged puzzled looks as they watched the dinosaurs gathering around the watering hole. There were grazing Sinoceratops, a Parasaurolophus, a Ceratosaurus, some Compsognathuses, and a 6x4.

  Well, the 6x4 wasn’t a dino—it was a vehicle driven by Yasmina. She was driving alongside Ben, who was riding atop Bumpy, waving flashlights.

  “Here! Here!” Ben shouted.

  The flashlights got the attention of Pteranodons flying above. They began following Ben.

  Now the dinosaurs at the watering hole went wild! The Ceratosaurus roared as several Pteranodons dive-bombed it and the other creatures.

  The dinosaurs started to run.

  The plan was working! The kids had distracted the dinosaurs, who were now stampeding away from the watering hole and, most importantly, Mitch and Tiff.

  Yasmina stopped the 6x4, and Kenji pulled up alongside on the motorcycle. They watched as the dinosaurs continued to run, far away from the watering hole now.

  Everything was great, except Bumpy started to bellow, stepping in front of Ben. She raised her tail, ready to strike.

  Ben looked over at the edge of the jungle and grimaced. “Guys…,” he said.