Huddled together, the sinister red glow of the emergency lights spilling across their faces Darius absent mindedly smoothed his hand through Brooklynn's soft pink hair with an eased rhythm. The girl's head rest in his lap, she had cried herself out a few minutes ago, inflamed hands pressed tight against her mouth as she tried to muffle the sound. Staring vacantly at the bleak gray wall across from him, there were many voices screaming in Darius' head; fear, self-doubt, and damnation all vying greedily for his soul. He tried his best to give them no ear with which to listen. Instead the boy found himself humming a light tune, foot tapping to the beat of a song he willed to fill his mind and drown out all of his anxieties and pain.

What he wouldn't give for his iPod right now, he thought, desperately wanting some way to sever his mind from the grim reality in which he found himself.

He couldn't do this anymore. It was too hard, he'd done too many things wrong, and people had died because of him.

Glancing down at the sleeping girl and a shudder ran through Darius. It was just the cold, he lied to himself. A chill had seeped and into his bones from the dark and damp of the tunnels, pipes dripping here and there. That must have been it. Or perhaps it was the fear? The raptors, smaller, sleeker than the ones he'd encountered with Kenji were still running free and could return at any moment to catch them unawares.

He was just cold and scared, that's all.

No, he grudgingly reasoned when the sensation wracked his body once more, it wasn't the cold, and it wasn't the fear. Someone was walking over his grave. What he was feeling was the undeniable truth that they were never getting off this island, even after everything they'd been through, everything they'd done, everything he'd done.

Death walked with them, hand in hand, and they were all going to die here.

Because of him.

All he could hope now was that Sammy, Yaz, and Kenji would be able to make it out, that the only other person he had doomed was Brooklynn. Stupid, vainglorious Brooklynn. Why she had decided to run around like an idiot was infuriatingly beyond Darius' scope of understanding. She didn't have to do it, but she did it anyways. It was his job to make sure everyone was alright, it was his job to make sure that they all knew what they were up against, it was his job to make the sacrifice if it came down to it. So then why did she seem to think this was some sort of game, that she could just do whatever she wanted consequences be damned?

Anger swelling in his chest Darius' fingers curled and tangled through the girl's hair, pulling strands from it's loose bun. Glaring down at the pink tresses held tight in his fist he wanted to pull her hair, to shake her, yell at her, let her know how stupid and selfish she was being. Rage obscuring his vision with bitter tears he didn't want the stain of Brooklynn's blood on his hands too, but now because of her, the boy knew that he would... inevitability... and he hated her for it.

Letting out a shaky breath, as a few tears slipped free Darius let go moments later. Uneasily he resumed running his hand over the girl's locks, retidying the mess he'd made as best he could. She was exhausted, he noticed when none of his fidgeting had roused her. So was he, he admitted, head lulling back, eyelids drooping heavily. He couldn't sleep, it wasn't safe to, he knew that, and yet, his blinks became longer, and he felt himself separating only to return to himself with a start.

He couldn't fall asleep! He thought, opening his eyes painfully wide. He couldn't... but...

There was a rattle in the piping overhead. It was just loud enough to catch his attention, though not enough to force the sleep from Darius' mind, his head hanging low, chin resting against his chest.

Then he heard it again, and he fought to open his eyes. It seemed louder this time, and rhythmic unlike the periodic rattle and pop of the other pipes. Then he realized that the sound repeated in periodic intervals.

clang-clang-clang-clang-clang

Forcing himself to sit a little higher from where he slumped Darius glanced about his mind a lethargic hazed muddle. There was a pause and the noises of the tunnel returned to their natural ambient static. Maybe he was hearing things? he thought, or had already started dreaming? Darius waited for what felt like an eternity, but the sound didn't return. He was going crazy, the boy conceded with himself, before the call to slumber took up arms and he felt himself beginning to drift once more.

clang-clang-clang-clang-clang

The boy jolted upright. No, he'd heard it that time, he'd definitely heard it! Darius strained with baited breath and pensive nerves to listen. Then it happened on a different pipe along the opposite wall.

clang-clang-clang-clang-clang

"Huh, shave and a hair cut..." he muttered to himself absentmindedly, a little smirk curling the corner of his mouth. Then it clicked.

Darius leaped to his feet spilling Brooklynn, who gave a frightened yelp, to the floor. Rapping his knuckles twice against the pipes as hard as he could it was all Darius could do to keep from shouting, "Two bits!" which came out in a desperate sob. Seconds later the pipe in question shook and rattled frantically. It was them, he realized, it was the others, they had found a way to communicate!

Darius crumpled to his knees overwhelmed with joy, deliverance was at hand, and maybe, just maybe they didn't have to die here.

"Darius?" Brooklynn, crouched low to the floor whispered apprehensively behind him.

Turning towards her the boy couldn't help but smile even as the tears flowed steadily. "It's ok," he promised. "We're going to be alright, the others- I don't know how they, but- I know how to find them! We're getting out of here!"

The shadow of fear and doubt broke over the girl's face, her natural radiance shining through like sunlight conquering stormclouds, the same tears of relief washing over her. Gingerly the teens helped pull one another to their feet, supporting themselves wearily, Darius waited and listened his ears keen. The tapping came again, he turned from left to right, trying to discern a point of origin, but the echos that reverberated along the thick, empty concrete walls made the task difficult.

"What do you think?" he asked after a minute. "Is it louder coming from that direction or... That one?"

Brooklynn bit her lip as she strained to hear. Finally, eyes closed she let out a sigh. Darius knew the feeling, it was a fifty-fifty chance and it was still the biggest gamble of their lives. "That one." she said after a few minutes gesturing with a nod down a straight and narrow corridor.

"Let's hope so." Darius said a nervous laugh escaping him, fear and optimism a nauseating cocktail in the pit of his stomach.

Picking their way through the tunnels, Darius and Brooklynn checked superstitiously around every curve, bend, and intersection for signs of the velociraptors. It made for slow going, but so too did the knocking and waiting for a response. Blessedly, however as they trailed their copper line of salvation they could tell they were getting closer, and closer until the distinct clatter of metal on metal rang through their ears like the victorious bells of a cathedral on New Years day.

Turning a corner the pair stopped abruptly. They had found them! Sammy stood radiating power and determination as she tearfully and methodically struck the end of the electric prod against metal poles. Yasmina and Kenji lay behind her exactly where they had left them, sagging low to the ground, pale, fighting against themselves as they each began nodding off. The cowgirl, who caught their movement out of her peripheral vision gave a start before allowing her tool to drop noisily to the ground as she rushed to embrace them.

Darius winced, and struggled to keep his footing as the girl threw herself across their shoulders, pulling them in tight. "I was so, so scared!" she whispered.

"It's alright Sammy," Darius smiled. "We were too."

At this the Texan couldn't help but laugh, her nature winning out against circumstance. "I bet you were you crazy son-of-a-gun!" she larked, before turning to Brooklynn more sternly. "And you, I expected better from you! Don't ever do anything like that again, or I'll turn y'all over my knee, I'll do it too!" she motioned threateningly between the two of them with her index finger.

The three friends shared a laugh, and for the briefest of moments it felt as though everything was alright. Sammy pressed an affectionate kiss into each of their cheeks, and gave them a final, trembling hug before leading them back to the others.

"See I told you it wasn't a stupid idea." Kenji murmured with a breathy smile, nudging Yaz with his elbow trying to get her to admit that she had been wrong. "Fraggle Rock for the win..."

"You're an idiot." the girl said through her gritted teeth, hands gripping her upper thigh where the tight spandex of her running shorts had begun to cut into her still expanding leg.

"It worked didn't it?" Kenji asked, staring down at her swollen and discolored limb with worry.

"That was genius!" Darius enthused as he came up to them, holding his right hand out to give Kenji a high-five. With a little grunt of discomfort Kenji ignored him, turning decidedly away, or at least, as much as he could.

"Glad you didn't get eaten Super-Star." he muttered, looking past Darius to Brooklynn.

"Me too." the pink haired girl smiled awkwardly.

Darius was hurt and left shaken, by Kenji's indifference. The air catching in his chest the boy was reminded of how he had failed, not once, but twice, and now Ben, and Jayson were dead because of him. Looking down at his hand Darius made a fist, it felt strong enough, but somehow he hadn't been. He was weak, a coward, and a murderer. Blinking back his emotions Darius swallowed hard against the lump in his throat, and took stock of their surroundings.

"So," he said, forcing a smile. "We know there's not much back that way, except maybe some toothy 'friends,' so what do you say we try heading this way?" he asked motioning further down the tunnel.

"I think that's a good idea!" Sammy hastily agreed, bending down to help Yasmina to her feet. The athlete cast a withering stare at the cowgirl that stopped her in her tracks.

"I've got this." Yaz grit, trying to stand. "And I especially don't need help from you." she added in low mutter.

Darius who could tell that in spite of her pride Yasmina wasn't going to be able to do it on her own, moved quickly, and caught her under the arm with his good hand. The pull and strain on the connective muscles across his back and chest protested with a fiery ache, bright orbs flickering to life at the edge of his vision. "Let me." he muttered helping the girl up. He and Sammy exchanged saddened looks as they shuffled about in the close quarters so that she could aid Kenji, who remained motionless and made no effort to help himself.

Once everyone had found their footing the group resumed their slow shuffle forward into the unknown, only, this time they were sure to be more cautious and aware of their surroundings.

Hairs standing up on the back of his neck and arms Darius found himself lost within as they walked, seeing the world from the back seat as he anxiously poured over everything that had happened over the course of the past twenty-four hours, mulling obsessively over the observation tower, and monorail, replaying it again, and again in the theater of his mind, reenacting the events in painful, damning detail, piecing together hypotheticals if only he had done something different, done something right. Silently the boy cursed himself for his failures.

"You alright?" Yasmina asked in a low whisper, looking down at him with worry.

"Yeah, you?" Darius asked, it was an automatic response, he was still rifling and filing through the scenarios in which he might have been able to save a life.

"I'm-" Yaz rolled her eyes and let out a snort of irritation. "It's not about me, I'm fine." she spit out, turning to glance down an adjacent hallway. "I was asking about you, Darius."

"I'm ok."

"You're shaking." Yasmina pointed out bluntly, she'd stopped walking her honey colored eyes staring down hard into his deep cocoa gaze. She didn't seem prepared to take 'yes' for an answer, but couldn't help putting much of her weight on him as she waited for a better response.

"I'm just-" Darius started brows pulled together as he turned towards her. "Scared."

Yaz looked at him for a long minute before she seemed to accept this, pressing her lips together tightly she nodded, "Me too." The girl rest her head against his for a minute, in a kind of hug, before they started off again.

It hadn't been a lie, exactly, Darius said to himself, but it wasn't the whole truth either.

After trekking aimlessly for a while the weary band's pace slowed to a crawl, bickering and arguing broke out amongst the friends. The tension came to a head when they found themselves met with yet another barred passage.

"Come on!" Kenji groaned.

"Oh look another dead end!" Brooklynn scoffed. "Good job!"

Trying to stave off any fights before they could start Darius turned to suggest doubling back, and trying the winding route they had passed not long ago. That was when they heard it, the roar that bounced off the floor and ceiling as it raced towards them, clashing deafeningly against their eardrums and filling the children's hearts with alarm. The ruddy, short snouted maw of the carnotaurus Toro jutted around a corner at the end of the corridor they had been trailing. The campers seized up, breath baited, grips tightening on one another with fearful holds that would later bruise. Surveying her surroundings Toro spotted the teenagers, lip curling over sharp conical teeth in a snarl.

"We have to run!" Brooklynn shouted.

"I can't." Yasmina stated in a hollow whisper.

Watching helplessly with the others as Toro bore down on them Darius looked desperately for a way out, that was when he noticed the vent. Running to it he began prying at the metal grating as Sammy seemed to have the same idea yanked at the other end. The cover was tossed aside with a clang. Brooklynn was at the ready shoving the doubled over VIP towards them they stuffed Kenji into the open space, followed by Yaz. The other three piled in at the last moment choking on the thick dusty air of the duct, their movements displacing huge plumes all around them. For only an instant had the kids fooled themselves into believing that they were safe when they were submerged entirely in darkness.

Brooklynn screamed, scrambling backwards, pressing herself hard against the others. Caught off balance Darius looped an arm about her while using the other to crawl away. Toro's massive form blocked out all light, her teeth gnashing hungrily at the children as she struggled to reach them. The sickening sweet smell of rotting flesh filled the confined space, and thick droplets of saliva splattered against Darius' face as he backed away, ears ringing, heart hammering. Met with another grate he began to kick it, the metal reverberating against the bottom of his sneakers as others joined him in the darkness. At last he struck only air as it fell away without warning.

Spilling out with the others Darius picked himself up groggily, head swimming as he struggled to catch his breath. He couldn't believe they'd made it out of there, he thought, taking stock of his battered friends who lay scattered and moaning about him. They had to get up, they had to keep going, they were almost there, he could feel it! Darius stumbled to his feet, and began pulling the others to theirs.

"Ok, ok!" Kenji wheezed, his shoulder finding support against the wall. "You're like a drill sergeant!"

"Yeah," Yasmina added. "We need a minute."

"We don't have a minute." Darius said with form determination. "We have to keep moving, we have to-"

Brooklynn nudged the boy, pointing with a teary eyed smile to a bright orange sign that marked the wall on the other side of the train tracks, they had emerged beside. Darius read, and reread with sign in startled disbelief before the words tumbled from his lips. "Exit to south ferry dock 1000ft!"

It didn't seem real, and yet somehow it was! Everyone was elated and began rushing forward as quickly at they were able, laughing, and shouting with excitement as they staggered towards the light. This was it, they were saved!

The tunnel opened up into a large loading bay stacked high with crates, boxes, and pallets of materials and supplies, white florescent lights illuminating the storage space. As they burst through one by one the children's faces fell as the realization dawned on them that they weren't looking at a way out, at salvation, but rather another dead end, and damnation. A large gray wall stared back at them, denying their only chance of escape and survival.

"There's no way out," Brooklynn half sobbed. "They must have sealed it off after the park was finished!"

"Can't one person associated with this place make one good decision?" Yasmina bellowed, left leaning against a crate.

Rushing to the well fortified barrier as Toro's call echoed from somewhere further down the track Darius slammed his fists against the rough surface. The world wobbled beneath his feet, his stomach lurching violently, the dizzying realization that all had finally been lost sent him reeling. There was a deep pain in Darius' chest, slinking towards the floor he was lightheaded, and disoriented with a fear that threatened to incapacitate him.

It was happening all over again, he thought, he failed, and now they were all going to be killed. The tunnels had been his idea, he'd assumed they would be safer, easier to transverse than open terrain. He had thought for sure that they would have had a straight shot to the docks, that there wouldn't be any dinosaurs down here to threaten them, but he'd been wrong. He had been the one to lead them down here, brought them quite literally to the end of the line, and now their doom stalked towards them.

Bitter tears slipped from his eyes. He should have been strong enough to hold onto Jayson, Darius thought hatefuly of himself, he should have been able to push past the pain on the monorail and been the one to climb out of the hatch, he should have held onto Ben, no matter what. Fists clenched the boy winced, cringing away from them memory of Jayson's skin dragging under his nails that haunted him, the sticky clumps and dried blood left embedded beneath them. Opening and closing his hands, he begged them to forget the sensation.

"Darius, what do we do now?" Yasmina panted, hobbling over towards the other campers.

"I don't know." Darius whispered.

"Darius?" Sammy tried, leaning towards the boy on the tracks with concern.

"I don't know!" he shouted in frustrated response, grinding his forehead into the concrete until his head felt like it was going to split.

"But," Sammy started in a whisper that made her sound like a lost little kid. "You always know."

"I don't know!" Darius screamed, his voice breaking into a hoarse warble. "I don't know what to do." Sitting with his hands over his ears Darius was trembling, his forehead bouncing off the wall from soft rhythmic blows that kept him painfully grounded, the feeling that he was about to break, about to fall, overwhelming. "I didn't know what to do about Ben or Bumpy," he sobbed. "Or Jayson or the Indominus Rex!"

Toro's roar seemed nearer this time, electrifying the boy's spine. Panicking he stood, hand running over the concrete, trying to find something, anything that he could pry away and gain his freedom. "All I did was make bad choices and get into trouble and mess things up! You never should have trusted me!" he wept clawing like a trapped animal at the wall. "I'm just a dino-nerd who played a fucking videogame! I'm no good at this!"

"But," Brooklynn started with a sad smile. "You are good at this Darius. None of us knew what to do. None of us still know what to do. Hell the people who run this place obviously didn't know what to do, but because you kept going. We kept going."

"Brooklynn's right," Sammy agreed. "You kept us all soldiering on, in spite of what some of us have done." Darius turned towards the girls and saw a pained look on the Texan's face, one she still managed to smile past, as Yasmina limped towards them to put her two cents in.

"And you made us realize, that at least for now, we're in this together." she said. "So we are... We're a team, we're your team..."

"'Things fall apart, and that's ok, because when that happens...'" Brooklynn recited misty eyed. Those were his dad's words, she was using his dad's words, she had been listening, they all had.

Darius found his hand reaching instinctively for the familiarity and comfort of his necklace. His eyes squeezed shut in a sharp pang of sorrow when he remembered that it gone, his hand resting on his chest, his dad was gone. He stood swaying with renewed grief for a long minute, before he felt something, the rapid, dull thumping of his own heart against his palm. No, there he was, Darius thought pressing his hand deeper against his chest, his dad wasn't gone, he was there, in his heart, always.

Darius too a wavering breath, and forced all of his emotions aside.

"'We pick up the pieces and we keep going.'" he smiled up to his friends, the knowledge that he wasn't alone, and never would be empowering. This wasn't over, not by a long shot, not while they still had spirit, they still had a fighting chance. They were going to make that ferry and get off this God forsaken island even if it was the last thing they did.

But first, they had to take care of Toro.

Offering him a hand up Sammy pulled Darius from the tracks and onto the platform beside them. Another bellow sent a jolt through the children. She's getting closer, Darius thought gazing with a rekindled determination at the dark tunnel before them. "Let's see what's in these crates."

Working fast and hard, using crowbars and various other tools that lay scattered about the kids began searching through the supplies left stockpiled on the loading bay in a system of organization that was not immediately apparent to the children as they riffled haphazardly through the abandoned materials. Clothes, toys, trinkets, these were useless! Darius ground his teeth together after opening yet another container of gift shop merch. How were they supposed to defend themselves with dinosaur themed stationary, and phone cases? He wondered sarcastically to himself.

"Medical supplies!" Kenji scoffed after he and Yasmina had managed to wedge a crate open. They'd been working in tandem, slow but eager to be of some sort of use, and the effort of leveraging the wooden box open was plain on their faces. The two seemed defeated, Darius couldn't have that, making his way towards them he hoped to offer them encouragement, to keep their spirits up, but when he glanced down at what they had uncovered his heart gave a tiny leap.

Who the hell had thought it was a good idea to store those oxygen tanks like that? Rattling around with a bunch of coban loose at the bottom? Far from the most hygienic way to transport such things, there was also the huge risk of the bottles colliding, breaking open, of fire, and even explosions. If anything this made him doubt the competency of Jurassic World as a company most.

He remembered his mom panicking and buying a electric oven second hand when his dad needed to start bringing oxygen home, deeming their gas range too much of a risk. That had made Darius nervous to handle the tanks, or even to vent the last bit of O2 from them before the medical supply truck would come to replace their empties. Then, a thought occured to him, and he smiled. Hefting a metal cylinder from the crate he turned the valve, testing it's pressure, allowing some of its contents to hiss out.

"We had a bunch of these around the house after my dad got sick," he explained grinning to the others as a plan began to form. "Super compressed air sensitive to pressure and heat."

"Might be able to scare Toro off." Brooklynn said hopefully as she peered into the crate as well.

"Or distract him long enough to find another exit." Darius beamed nodding at the other two. "Good find you guys." he praised still sliding the final pieces of his plan into place.

"Sammy, Brook..." Darius started in a commanding tone, before he stopped himself gaze falling to Brooklynn's swollen hands and forearms. He hastily thought better of what he was going to say. "Sammy do you think you can help me load this crate onto the cart?" the cowgirl nodded confidently. "Kenji, Yaz twist some of the gauze and bandages together to make a fuse. We're going to need something to light it with..." his voice trailed off contemplatively.

The fierce spark and crackle of electricity caught his attention as Yaz wielded her multipurpose walking stick towards the group with a smirk. "Perfect." Darius nodded.

Everyone moved double time to try and get the trap set, Brooklynn determined to help pressed her back against the crate after it had been moved to the cart, using the strength of her legs, not her arms to help get it into position. Finally when everything seemed ready the teens ducked down amid the supplies, waiting with pent anxiety and long held breath as the large therapod lumbered into the room, her nostrils flairing as she scented about for them.

Fear overtook the teenagers as they huddled around their improvised fuse. "Light it up."

The prod crackled and flared to life, a thin blue-white bolt arching between the probs, but nothing came of the brilliant display.

"Yaz?" Brooklynn whispered disparagingly.

"I'm trying!" Yasmina snapped.

The strain of the situation made the campers edge together as she tried again and again. It was as they waited, tension mounting that Kenji squeeze closed his eyes before fishing the fanny pack out of his pocket. There was a solemn moment of silence where no one spoke before he reached in and produced a bottle of hand sanitizer.

"Here," he murmured dousing the fuze with the alcohol solution. "This stuff will burn."

Yasmina tried sparking the rod again. Nothing seemed to happen. In aggravation Kenji squeezed even more gel onto the knotted bandages, splattering the sanitizer everywhere. That was when they felt the heat. "Ow!" Sammy yelped wretching her hand back, slapping the invisible flames out on the leg of her pants. It was then that the bandages themselves caught, flames orange and angry.

"Sorry." Kenji whispered brows furrowed.

"It's ok." Sammy smiled, hand tucked under her arm, she shut her eyes tightly against the burn.

"Thanks Ben." Brooklynn added in a prayer.

Then with all their might they shoved the cart towards Toro and dove for cover. It should have worked, but then something happened that no one had anticipated; the carnotaurus let out a roar, trashing her head to the side, her sharp horns impaling the crate tossing it aside with ease. The loading bay was showered with burning debris, oxygen tanks clattering to the ground and striking the rails below.

Darius' breath caught as flames blossomed all around them, then he looked up and made eye contact with the large carnivore that glared at them scornfully. "Run!" he shouted.

Everything that happened next, happened in a frantic blur. Heart hammering in his ears Darius grabbed onto Yasmina half dragging her after him as the campers ran for their lives. There was no time to hesitate, he thought feeling the drag of her body weight, he mercilessly urged her on.

Behind them Toro crashed through barrels and boxes to get the children, rampaging furiously amid the fire and choking plumes of smoke that coiled to the ceiling. Glancing back over his shoulder the boy saw Kenji throw himself painfully to the tracks, rolling and scrambling for his life. Yaz who had been watching too tripped, nearly bringing Darius down with her, the clatter of the prod catching Toro's attention the animal turned on her hungrily. Darius dashed a few feet away, picking up a smouldered wooden plank and hurled it at Toro, as mightily as he could.

The distraction worked, a little too well as the beast jaws snapping lunged for Darius who leapt and scampered out of reach. Finding his way to the tracks Darius found the prod discarded and thinking quickly snatched it up as Toro ran for him headlong. In terror the boy realized he was trapped and couldn't pull himself back out he was going to-

"Darius!" Kenji's horror striken face came into veiw as he stretched himself out over the edge. Jumping Darius grabbed onto him, somehow Kenji managed to keep hold, pulling Darius up with him, eyes fluttering before the anguish of his heroic act stole away his consciousness, and he sagged to the floor, a ragdoll.

Sammy and Brooklynn were there pulling Kenji back into hiding behind a large stack of freight where Yasmina huddled tearily. It all came down to this, Darius thought in a moment of clarity, this was it. Oxygen leaked out of the tanks that surrounded Toro's feet. Letting out a steadying breath Darius flicked the ignitor on the rod, wielding it like a javelin he took the sparse seconds available to him to aim and hurled it.

Diving behind the freight with the others, there was a terrible explosion. Immense pressure, sound, and lastly heat washed over the campers. Darius' ears were ringing, his insides felt as though they had been knocked sideways, he was dizzy, felt like throwing up, and for a moment couldn't form cohesive thought. Hacking, spit, snot, and tears streaming from his face as the boy found his feet Darius was staggered, blinking back against the smokey haze of the eruption, he stared hard through the mire to see if it had worked. Then the gravely ruins shifted, his heart squeezed with fright and Toro rose like a phoenix from the ashes.

No, he thought, legs threatening to give out beneath him, no!

The carnotaurus made a strange, low rumbling sound, yellow eyes raking over her adversaries. Then she fell, pulled herself back up, and with a whimper of pain began limping away. The kids began to whoop and celebrate as the dust settled, Kenji who recovering from his pain induced blackout was blearily late to the party, follow suit with optimistic confusion. Darius watched the beast's retreat with some remorse, she couldn't help what she was, he thought, but then again they couldn't exactly be blamed for fighting back either.

"Look!" Brooklynn gasped pointing to the starlit sky that had been exposed through the wall, concrete lying in rubble.

They were saved!

Giddy, heart ready to bust, laughter spilling from his lips Darius began helping everyone to their feet, prayers of gratitude flooding throughout his soul and mind. Pushing past palms and ensnaring ferns the five survivors pelted as fast at their spent legs could carry them. Bursting out through the foliage their feet struck a man-made path, one they followed hastily to the dock and to-

Nothing.

There was nothing.

The calm roll of the tide lapping at the shoreline, moonlight glittering off the crest of a wave, and stars timeless, silent observers of all that unfolded below them kept vigil, were all that met Darius' gaze. They'd missed it. The ferry had left without them. They had been left behind, forgotten, abandoned... left for dead.

It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Not one thing they had done, because regardless of how hard they had tried they still wouldn't have made it.

Crushed beneath this realization Darius found himself unable to breathe as he sank gradually to the ground. Someone was speaking to him, but they were far away, he couldn't hear them, not where he was, not so burdened by the truth. Nothing they had done could have brought them safely to the docks in time, so nothing they had done to get here had any worth or merit. They could have done anything and the outcome would have been the same.

They could have done anything.

Anything.

They'd had the time.

Without warning Darius fell over the precipice he had been toeing all day, the cold, dark, unfeeling waters of grief and depression swallowing him whole he lay collapsed on the docks wailing his heart rending lament.

They'd had the time.

It was his fault.

They'd had the time.

"I'm sorry!" he screamed heedless of anything that could hear him. "Oh God I'm so sorry! Ben!" he shrieked. "Ben! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Ben! Ben, I'm so sorry! We missed it, we had time! We had time! None of this mattered we could have gone back for him! We could have gone back! Oh my God Ben! Ben, I'm sorry! It's all my fault! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Darius wanted to die...