man destroys god || i. malcolm

19

The sun was up by the time Nick came back to walk with Aria. He updated her on everything Roland had told him. The two friends had always been somewhat elitists, so they took the time they were mostly alone as an opportunity to make fun of the man's intentions.

"You do have to admire his passion, though. Even if everything else is misplaced, he knows what he wants and he's here to do it." Nick shrugged.

Aria laughed lightly, looking up at her friend knowingly. "Sounds like you know what you want, and you're here to do him."

"Alright, Ari, enough." Nick shoved her roughly, almost sending her to the ground.

She skipped ahead of him, turning her head back to call out, "You're not denying it!"

A few steps back, Ian was observing (staring at) the interaction.

"God, wipe that stupid smile off your face and just go talk to her." Sarah rolled her eyes. Ian looked down at her, schooling his features.

"Smile? What, what smile? I'm not—"

Kelly scoffed loudly. "Oh, please, Dad. For all our sakes, go."

Ian glared at both of them, staying where he was. He'd do it later.

The group paused to rest, and Aria sat down on the ground near a tree.

Ludlow approached her, getting down on her level. "Are you alright? Must've been quite a scare back there."

Aria frowned faintly. "Yeah, well, I've endured worse. I'm sure you know about that."

Ludlow took a moment to ignore her pointed comment before answering. "I don't hold your friendship with Malcolm against you, really. I think you are very brave for—"

"Hey, Ari!" Nick came running over. "Miss me?"

"Can't get enough of you, Van Owen." Aria said sarcastically.

Ludlow took his chance to awkwardly walk away. Nick sat down next to her. "Sarah's over there, enduring the same from Roland."

"To women in male-dominated fields," Aria held up her water bottle. "May we survive the flirting and the dinosaurs."

Nick touched his water bottle to hers. "Amen."

They sat together for a few minutes, before their first obstacle of the day arose. A man, one Dieter Stark, was missing.

"Well, when was the last time you saw him?" Roland asked a frantic man.

"Fifteen minutes."

Roland sighed, then got a group together to go after their missing man. He left Sarah in charge.

"He wants her so bad." Aria whispered to Nick. He gave her a look. Clearly he didn't see it, but Aria was a fiend for dramatics, and often created things that weren't there.

Ludlow stood up, trying to get the group moving. Everyone stayed sitting, simply looking at him. The heat was suffocating and Aria hadn't had a proper chance to sit down since before they released the dinosaurs into the other groups camp.

Nick sighed and stood. "Alright, guys. Let's get the hell out of here."

That got everyone moving, and they walked until dark. When it got too dark to continue, they set up camp for the night. Aria unclipped her small bag and tossed it to the ground, joining Kelly and Sarah in their tent. Her large backpack had been lost to the cliff, taking her clothes, notebook, and extra food with it. Now she was left with her wallet, a few CLIF bars (ever trustworthy), and her smallest camera that she had shoved into her crossbody bag. It was the only one that had survived so far, and she meant to keep it that way.