The Lost Dinosaur |2| Nublar Seven Series

Camp Cretaceous

Hayden

Flashlights illuminated our path and somehow, even at nighttime, the jungle got more familiar by the minute. A tree bent in a known angle, a patch of grass in a particular shape, of course everything was overgrown, the grass was taller and the trees wider, but it was still our slice of the jungle. It was when we crossed a familiar bridge going across a river, I knew we were close. The same river that Yasmina and I used to run along in the mornings, the same river I almost drowned running from the Scorpios, the same one we used for drinking water and chill on a hot day. There were several memories flooding my mind at the same time. Over the years I had learned to only hold onto the positive one.

Ben was probably feeling the same since he picked up his pace. Going past the last overgrown fern, he came to a halt. A stopped beside him, our shoulders brushing lightly as I smiled at the sight.

There it stood, high up in a tree.

"Welcome to Camp Cretaceous." Ben grinned, puffed chest and hands on his hip.

"I can't believe it's still here." I said in awe.

The mesh fence stood around the tall, old tree. Our old camp was built around it, high up from the ground and made out of the rest of the original camp. A ladder and slide gave us access to an open area. In the center, there was a table supported by a T. rex skull, a green couch and chairs. To the left, there was the shower with an empty support for the gallon of water; and every other free space were bunk beds or crates for storage.

"Let's set a perimeter." Wheatley said and his men moved out. "What is this place?" He turned to me.

"Summer camp." I said, walking along with Ben.

"You did this yourselves?" Owen asked, sounding truly surprised.

"You know, after we activated the useless distress beacon and we realized we were left stranded..." I glared at Dearing, who averted my gaze. "We had a lot of time in our hands."

Ben chuckled. "Too bad you didn't let me do any upgrades."

"We told you a tree is not a place for a dinosaur." I reached for the gate.

"Ah, ah, ah. Careful." Ben stopped me.

"It's been almost three years, the battery ran out." I touched the metal that once upon a time was electrified, pulling the gate open, it got stuck as usual, but it opened alright.

"It's never bad to be safe." He followed me in.

"You electrified the fence?" Wheatley asked, and for the first time I, too, saw surprise in his eyes.

"Yeah?"

"That's impressive." Owen nodded, approvingly and Wheatley laughed to himself.

"What? Hard to believe kids could hook a car battery to a fence? It's not rocket science." Ben snickered at him.

"No, I agree with Owen." He simply said.

Ben mumbled something unintelligibly and proceeded to go up the ladder, followed by me. The wood creaked under our feet, but it held strong. The place was dusty and smelling like mold. It looked like it survived a few storms in our absence. Ben went to his bunk, going up a stair of crates to an improvised second floor and I headed for my bunk, right next to the center table.

"Is that- did you kill the T. rex?" Zia asked, motioning at the table.

"What?" I laughed at the absurdity. "No, that was a fossil from the original Camp C, you know the one way high up." I pointed to the sky. Flashlights illuminated the tree canopy, where it was still possible to see the old camp skeleton. Wood decks, metal beams and pieces of a building hanging from the tree. "That was the Indominus, our best guess is that by taking down the elevator shaft, it all came crashing down." I shrugged. "I'm just glad we weren't up there."