Survivors Stride | Male! OC x Camp Cretaceous

(Chapter XIII) - Welcome to Jurassic World

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𝙼𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚜

I heaved myself off of the floor, head throbbing, ears ringing, bottom lip busted. I assumed my seatbelt wasn't completely buckled in, considering that I was literally just on the van floor. As I struggled to my feet, I held a hand close to my mouth and sat down in the seat I was in.
"Is everyone okay?" Darius asked, his voice shaky. Yasmina slammed her hands on the wheel and scoffed.

"Is 'Everyone?'" She starts, her voice filled with exasperation, then she cuts herself off and lets out a humorless laugh as she hops out of the broken-down vehicle.

"Yaz, Wait-" Sammy starts, but Yaz quickly slams the van door angrily and storms off. Miles opened the doors to the back and dropped himself out of the vehicle, followed by Sammy, he pushed past him and ran to catch up with Yaz. "Yasmina!" She yelled out. The others dropped out of the van behind me as I held my vest jacket sleeve up to my bloody lip.

"Where's she going?" Kenji asked, referring to Yaz who was stomping a rather far distance away from everyone. When Sammy catches up to her, I hear her begin a small rant in response to Darius' question.

"Give her a minute, Sammy had the phone the whole time, and I... we both defended her, I know she's pissed," I said to Kenji before rubbing my dried, bloody lips together. Needless to say, I was surprised to see Yaz this way, it seemed out of character for her to shout like this. But, then again, everyone was surprised to see me get mad too, so I guess that's what it's like. It can be hard for some people to remember that everyone has a breaking point, even the people who seem too shy or too nice.

"We're NOT okay! We're in the middle of the jungle with a killer dinosaur out there, and then you-" Yasmina sharply turns to Sammy as I approach the two. "you..." She couldn't even finish, but she got her point across.

"...Destroyed our only way for help and lied about it, I knew it!" Brooklyn butted in with a shout, crossing her arms. She was both happy to be right and angry that she was lied to AND that her phone was now shattered and unusable.

"I didn't mean to destroy the phone, I fell on it when the Zipline came down, and-" Sammy reasoned, but I cut her off.

"To hell with that, I'm not mad at you for breaking the phone, I'm mad because I defended you, Sammy. Me and Yaz both defended you!" I angrily pointed out. " You had everyone thinking Brooklyn was overreacting and making a big deal out of something that wasn't when she was right about you the entire time!"  I spat, by now I was in her face and Yaz didn't stop me. Sammy stepped back, her lip quivering as she embarrassedly grabbed her arm. I realized she was about to cry and stepped back, there was nothing I could say at this point to make her feel worse than she already does.

"So you really did have Brooklyn's phone? Why? What were you doing?" Darius asks, a hint of betrayal also affecting his tone of voice. Brooklyn angrily assumes the answer to his question.

"Probably trying to delete that video of her taking samples from the Sinocerotops." She angrily assumed the answer to D's question, and then she gasped. "And you knew about the Indominus because you were snooping around in Dr. Wu's lab when I ran into you, I KNEW IT!"

"So, you both were wandering a restricted area that day," I said with a sigh, recalling the day we toured the genetics lab.

"What were you doing in Dr. Wu's lab Brooklyn?" Darius questioned, reasonably. This time, I was quick to answer.

"She was trying to become relevant again," I said abruptly, could I have said that in a less mean way? Yes, of course. But I'm not exactly in a great mood at the moment. 

"That's not... UGH! Whatever, Miles!" Brooklyn groaned, then sighed. "It doesn't matter, I didn't destroy our only way to call for help and then lie about it, this is not my fault, this is her fault-"

"I'm here to Spy!" Sammy suddenly admits to everyone's surprise. Everyone's eyes went wide and a short silence followed. "For a company called Mantah Corps," she said bitterly.

"Mantah corps? They're another bioengineering company, BIG rivals with Masrani." Darius pointed out. "They tried to start making dinosaurs too, but Wu beat them to it."

"You doomed us all for some lousy company?!" Ben screamed from behind Darius, his anger amusing but reasonable. Sammy wipes a tear from her cheek and sniffs before explaining her side of the story. She explained how her ranch was in trouble, and how her family had to borrow money from shady people.

"We didn't know they were frontin' for Mantah Corps," Sammy admitted sadly. By now, I had cooled off. I didn't know about her situation, and by the way it sounds, it must be pretty dire if she were to agree to do spy work. "They said we'd lose everything if I didn't spy for them; use the behind-the-scenes access I'd get at camp to get info from Dr. Wu's lab, DNA from Dino's, and whatever else they needed... and then everything went wrong." Sammy turned from Darius to look at me and Yaz, her face begging for forgiveness. "This was the last thing I wanted to happen." Yaz scoffs and puts her hands up in a sassy manner,

 "Oh? To be stuck next to a broken-down van on Killer Dinosaur Island? Yeah, me too! What are the odds?" She said sarcastically, her question condescending and rhetorical.

"Yaz, that's enough-" I started, but she ignored me and continued pressing Sammy.
"Was it all a lie? Wanting to be friends?" Yaz asks, her eyes now filled with tears, her voice breaking. "You used me to hide what you were doing, Sammy. Tell me I'm wrong." At this point, Sammy was at a loss for words, on the verge of completely breaking down. I step in between them both and put a hand on Yaz's shoulder gently pushing her back.

"That's enough," I said firmly with a calmness that belied her anger. She looked up at me with a mix of confusion and righteous fury, then glanced down at Sammy with pitiful eyes and grunts. The other campers were back at the van discussing something.
"I'm such an Idiot." She paused and looked back at me, bewildered. "Why? Why are still defending her?" She questioned, knocking my hand away. "Brooklyn was right, she is to blame for this." I furrow my brows,

"Did you not hear her, do you realize how dire her situation is?" I yelled to her, trying to talk some sense into her. "If you take that into context and put yourself in her shoes, you'd realize, you'd do the same thing for your family... right? U- Un- unless I'm wrong?" I said, stammering a bit near the end as I took a subtle step toward her. I hoped she would do that for her family, I would. Now, I felt like that came off a bit harsh, but she talked the same way to Sammy/ I grab her by the shoulders again,

"Yaz, as much as I hate being lied to, she put her family first, treating her badly because she made decisions according to that isn't fair." Yaz sniffed and looked past me to Sammy, sadly standing there with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. Yaz considered it, but she couldn't forgive her yet and frowned at the thought of it.

"I-" She started, then cut herself off and looked around her senses disturbed. "Do you hear that?" She asked with furrowed brows. I listened and heard a helicopter in the distance, followed by the earthshaking rumble of the Indominus' footsteps.

"Bro, This is the worst time-" The Hybrid broke through the trees behind us, making our knees nearly buckle from under us. We all screamed, any feelings of remorse or anger had just been tossed out the window. The campers at the van scurried behind it, narrowly avoiding getting trampled, while I grabbed Sammy and Yaz and pulled them by the arm out of the way as the Indominus quickly passed us. I let go of them both and we watch as the Indominus breaks into more jungle in the distance.
 
"Where's she goin'? Sammy asked, her voice filled with confusion. The Helicopter flies over the tree line blasting high-caliber bullets at the beast with a gattling gun. As the Helicopter chases down the Indominus, we all head over to the others where Kenji explains that it was Masrani in the chopper, saying his callsign was on the tail.

"YEAH! KICK ITS BUTT MASRANI!" Kenji screams excitedly, then gasps for air to scream again, "YEAH BABY!" He looks to the rest of us, "See?! I told you they have it all under con-" An explosion cuts Kenji off, he snaps his head back to the helicopter being swarmed by Ptarenodons and shares a mutual look of horror with everyone as the helicopter crashes into the Pteranodon enclosure, exploding moments later.

I breathed out shakily and watched pteranodons fly out from their enclosure and in our direction.
 "With those pteranodons loose we're sitting ducks, we have to find cover!" Darius shouts, backing away. Kenji looked at the tablet and told everyone about the Kayak River, which was conveniently close to our current position and would bring us out by Main Street. Darius and Ben quickly pick up Bumpy by her shell and we begin to flee from the flying reptiles, taking cover under the trees. I made sure to stay near the back with Darius and Ben just in case they needed help. Yasmina nabbed the tablet from Kenji and raced ahead, leading the pack. Eventually, Kenji points out the entrance inside of a cave. A sign next to the entrance confirms his claim. Ben and Darius had slowed down and collapsed, they were most definitely tired after running with the baby dino. I run back to help them as a Pteranodon swoops down to grab one of them. They narrowly dodged out of the way before I ran up and shoulder-checked it, knocking it back a few steps.

"Bitch." I yelled out to it before tucking my tail and hauling ass in the other direction. Darius and Ben run into the cave with Bumpy alongside them, I trail close behind them. The Pteranodon roars and follows in pursuit, leaping into the air and gliding toward me.
"Come on, Miles!" Yaz screams as Darius and Ben make it inside, they are ready to close up the entrance. As I make it inside, the Pteranodon barely knicks at my hood with its beak, gets a grip on it, and pulls me back with strong force. The campers scream in tandem with its roar, making this moment all the more intense. The Pteranodon suddenly jerks my hood backward, taking Mr with it.

"WHOA!" I yelp and slam my hand over the door handle as the Pteranodon chomps away at my hoodie, preventing it from pulling me away and chowing down. I quickly pull my left arm out of its sleeve and grip the handle. The flying reptile poked and stabbed with its sharp beak as I grabbed the handle with my left and held my right arm back. As I did that, I immediately slipped out of the jacket and into the Kayak River cave. Yaz and Brooklyn quickly shut the door. A brief silence followed while everyone breathed a sigh of relief. I completely relax on the cave's cold stone floor breathing hard.
"Nah, man." I heaved with tired breaths. "I don't know how many more of those I've got in me." I say as I sit myself up, holding a hand out to Yaz, "Hey Yaz, can you help a brother out?" I asked with a smile. She doesn't return the smile but helps me up anyway. "Man..." I sniffed, looking at the metal door. "My dad got me that jacket... wish he was here..." I sighed sadly, looking at my feet. Everyone looks at me with shock, especially Darius, who shoots me a look of empathy and understanding.

"How'd he die?" He asked softly. Thinking back to it was harder than I thought, recalling the memories brought a wetness to my eyes.

"Just some..." I started, then trailed off, clenching my fists in anger. I wasn't prepared for this conversation right now. "He had colon cancer," I said finally with a sniff, wiping my wet eyes with my shirt. Darius nodded then opened his mouth to reply, but I stopped him. "It's alright, D. This was years ago." I wiped my whole face of tears with my shirt and sighed my feelings to the side. "Are we doing this or what?" I gestured to the Kayaks in front of us, there were plenty in the water already. Darius gives you a final look and nods, then turns to everyone else and points to a Kayak.

"Ben and Bumpy can go in this one." Darius points to a Kayak on the left of the dock, then glances at Ben, who gives a thumbs up.

"Me and Brooklyn get the CKK!" Kenji announces, retrieving sunglasses from the dock floor.

"'CKK'?" Brooklyn repeated, her eyebrow raised. Kenji looks at her as he puts the shades over his eyes.

"Cool Kids Kayak." He says to her as he hops into a Kayak. Brooklyn rolled her eyes and got in after him. Yaz grabs my arm and drags me over to an open Kayak.

"Whoa," I said quietly in response to her tug. She didn't say anything, but I could tell she needed to talk about something. She dropped into the back of the Kayak and grabbed a paddle floating in the water, while I grabbed a paddle off of the dock and got comfy in the front. Everyone grabbed their paddles and pushed off into the water.
We entered into a beautiful bioluminescent pocket in the cave. Everyone, exclaimed in wonder except Yaz and Sammy. Bumpy wailed and bellowed while constantly looking back at a worried Ben. Kenji and Brooklyn's Kayak comes up behind us and bumps ours off balance.

"Watch it!" Yasmina hisses. Kenji half-heatedly apologized, staying in character. 

"Sorry, CKK has the right of way. I don't make the rules." He said jokingly. I rolled my eyes and ignored him as he passed us. Darius and Sammy engaged in a conversation, likely about why she spied or something related to that. I glanced over my shoulder to see Yaz watching me. Not so much in a creepy way, but more so in deep thought. What was she thinking? 

"Did you want to talk about something?" I ask her, pushing us downstream with my paddle. She sniffs, "I just... um..." She begins to say, but something seems to stop her. When she tried again, she spoke quieter. "How are you so..." She paused a moment, thinking about the best word choice.