⍟ Strings {A Camp Cretaceous x Male Reader Story - Ben}

𝟺. 𝚂𝚊𝚕𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗

"It can't be..."

"Is it?"

"I'm seeing it too."

The campers all murmur in disbelief, eyes glued to the rising smoke.

"That is most def a bonfire." Kenji leans over the rail with a big grin.

"Someone got our SOS signal."

"Let's go find them." Darius beams.

"We're going home!"

The group begins to laugh and cheer in excitement. They make quick work getting out of the treehouse, only stopping to grab their wooden makeshift spears before beginning to sprint through the jungle and towards the blazing campfire.

They stop for a second and Brooklyn scurries up a tree to check if they're headed in the right direction, "Yes! We're getting closer!" She hops down from the branch where she's perched and everyone keeps sprinting forward.

They make relatively routine stops to check how close they are. Y/N now realizes the fire is actually a lot further away then it looked from their treehouse. Nonetheless, they keep dashing towards their destination.

During another proximity stop the other campers catch their breath while Darius climbs a tree to get a good view. Yasmina stands relatively unphased by the extensive amount of running, not to anyone's surprise, seeing as she is The Track Star, Y/N's a bit envious however, as anyone would be.

Darius drops down from the trees. But instead of the lively expression he usually wears, he looks shocked, almost scared.

"The bonfire, it's gone!" Darius exclaims with urgency.

A sense of dread washes over the group.

"What if they left?" Sammy gasps.

"What if the people who came to save us gave up and we missed our chance?" The tears welling in her eyes are evident in her tone.

Not even Darius has anything to say in this moment, no way to explain away the different possibilities or some kind of different circumstance where them being left behind isn't the case.

Before the campers get the opportunity to let their imaginations run wild thinking of what might happen next, a loud roar is heard and it's rather nearby. The group backs into each other, forming a circle and clutching onto their weapons of choice.

Although they're trying to keep as quiet as possible, their heavy breathing can still be heard as they scan the jungle for any sign of what made the noise.

"C-Could be a really big Compy, right?" Kenji suggests quietly.

"Darius, didn't you say they were creepo skylarks?"

"Are those real words?" Y/N mutters.

"I said they were crepuscular." Darius sighs deeply.

Just then, an enormous Ceratosaurus emerges just feet away from the campers, causing them to scatter and start sprinting. The dinosaur roars loudly and its eyes narrow in on the campers as it debates where to go.

They all coincidentally end up in one big group again, which is rather unfortunate as it gives the predator a larger chance of consuming them. Somewhere in the chaos, Kenji and Sammy both end up on the ground. Darius turns around to help Sammy and in the heat of the moment Y/N pulls Kenji to his feet.

They scramble backwards but when they realize the dinosaur is closing in, they hold up their weapons defensively. It's all a bit of a blur after that, but what looks like some kind of flare shoots from somewhere close by, right into the dinosaur's side.