Trigger Warning: Death vividly.

If this is one of your triggers please email me at [email protected] and I will send you an edited version of this chapter without the passages that could be triggering or harmful to your mental health so that you can still enjoy the story without having to suffer to do so.

Love y'all! -ENBYsaurus RAWR!!!

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-CCF Day Two-

Guilt.

Standing on the balcony staring out at the vast empty expanse of glass and steel spires that stretched away towards the horizon all Darius could feel was guilt.

Brows knit as he watched the empty city below the boy found that he could not quite name why. Then, turning back towards the room he remembered. Breathing labored, eyes gently closed his dad lay in the hospital bed, surrounded by cold, sterile equipment that seemed to herald the end. Darius looked down at his hands, they were trembling. Clenching them into tight fists the boy stuffed them into his pockets before forcing a smile and walking into that damned and dispairing room.

"Hey dad!" he smiled crookedly, rocking from heel to toe and back again at the side of the bed.

"H-hey kiddo!" the man beamed, as he looked about blearily. He was tired, so tired lately. He shouldn't stay too long, Darius thought though it pained him. He didn't want to waste a single minute of whatever time they had left, but his dad really, really needed to sleep.

"How've you been? How's school? Tell your old man everything!" his father said patting the space beside him with warm invitation.

Settling onto the too firm mattress the boy swung his feet in the air for a few minutes trying to think of something to tell him. School had changed a lot since his dad had gotten sick, it was a foreign beast now. Everyone whispered behind Darius' back friends and teachers included, his recent breakdown in math class the other day doing little to help his growing social ostracization. 

He hadn't even been thinking about his dad, or been particularly overwhelmed in that moment, but it happened, without warning. He had just started crying and couldn't name why or make himself stop. It was the school guidance counselor who suggested it was due to his dad's cancer on a subconscious level. At those words the boy had begun to cry even harder.

He was wailing and begging them not to call his mom when Brand, who'd caught word of the situation stormed through the door Mrs. Lee chasing him in from the office. His big brother's arm looped over his shoulder the two walked out for the day. No one made note of it on their records. And no one told their mother.

"It's you know, whatever." Darius shrugged. "Just school..."

"Uh-huh?" his dad mused with a raised brow before repeating, "'Just whatever...'"

"Yep." Darius shrugged.

"So, what have you been learning?" the man pried, poking Darius in the side with a finger.

The boy moved away from the sharp pressure in his side, angry with himself for finding it so irritating. His dad was sick, he shouldn't be mad at him, not for anything. "History, math, how to take tests and not make the school look bad and lose state funding." he shrugged with a sarcastic smile. "Like I said, whatever, business as usual."

"I see." the man nodded. "Do you know what the most important thing that I learned when I was your age?"

"What?" Darius asked turning towards him, struck suddenly with deja vu. Wait a minute, he remembered this conversation, he knew how it was going to go.

"The prefect technique for asking out a girl!" his dad said jabbing him and egging him on, hoping to embarrass him. 

The boy didn't squirm, didn't fight it, or blush, or tell his dad to stop. Instead he stared at the man, feeling removed from the scene. Knowing what he was going to do next, remembering it simultaneously as it occurred. Next his dad was going to ask, 'Come on there has to be some pretty girl out there who's caught your eye, what's her name?'

"Come on," the man laughed. "There has to be some pretty girl out there who's caught your eye, what's her name?"

This was where Darius jumped up, offended. They would to go back and forth about it for a few minutes before he admitted to thinking Kimberly B. in his writing class was pretty cute. Then he was going to ask his dad for that perfect technique of his. His dad would then go on to describe sitting down next to the girl you like, sliding over, taking her hand and purring, "Hey baby!"

Darius would then cackle with laughter a deep blush rising in his cheeks as he envisioned doing just that with Kimberly B. He was supposed to do all that, supposed to say those things, he was supposed to, but he didn't.

"Darius," his dad said gaze softening. "Son. What's wrong?"

Vision wavering with tears the boy didn't even know where to start, or how to begin. "I don't know dad." he rasped. "I- I've been messing up a lot lately. I've let a lot people down. People got hurt, dad they-"

In a flash Jayson hit the ground feet first, legs crumpling like a pair of accordions, the exposed area beneath his khaki shorts a red pulpy mass of ruined flesh and bone.

Letting out a cry Darius scurried away from the bed, retreating from his dad who reached for and called after him with concern. Eyes wide, heart pounding Darius turned this way and that, looking around in terror to find that he still stood exactly where he had been. In the hospital. Letting out a pent breath, the boy covered his face in his hands, trembling as he tried to make sense of what happened.

Something was wrong. His fingers, felt- pulling them away he saw the sticky clumps of skin that had gathered beneath his nails, hands red with blood.

Suddenly every muscle in his body ached with strain, left shoulder on fire, teeth gritting, his molars squeaking together painfully as he lay stretched across the floor of the monorail. Then he felt it, his nails biting into the flesh of Ben's forearm. Stomach knotting Darius recoiled in fear and disgust. It was only a half a second's worth of hesitation before he tried to reaffirm his hold on Ben's arm, but that half a second was just enough time for the boy to slip between his fingers. Ben fell, fading into the night.

"No!" Darius gasped closing his eyes against the sight as he backed into a wall. "No, no, no!!!!" 

Darius striking his head into the mutely decorated interior as he cursed himself and tried desperately to drive the horrific visions away, a slew of swear words hissing out between his teeth. Breathe, he told himself, just breathe. He could hardly make out his dad calling his name over the rushing blood in his ears now. Nothing had changed, the room was just as it had been seconds before, only now his dad was sitting up, pale with worry.

"Darius, what's going on?" he asked.

"I don't, I don't know- dad- I-" Darius stammered.

Then it happened.

Yellow on blue. Eyes darting feverishly around the room in a flash of yellow on blue he saw her, the woman with the baby standing on the balcony. She was swaying there, on the edge, not far from his reach. The boy held out a hand racing to catch her, then, without warning she tipped forward, falling- screaming.

His breath is stealing out of his lungs Darius found himself unable to speak to express his pain to his father who reached out towards him, eyes wide and worried. "Come here, come here!" The man commanded, his brows knit, IVs dangling from the arms he motioned his son over with.

"Dad!" the boy sobbed running to the bed and burying his face into the man's chest his hands gripping his hospital gown tightly. "I don't- I don't know what happened! I don't- dad I'm scared! I'm scared! Help me! Please help me! Dad-?"

Darius confused and worried when the man didn't reply sat up, brown eyes searching. A jolt of fear shocked through his body as he staggered back staring at an empty bed, the sheets long cold. That's right, he remembered a chill sweeping through his figure... dad's dead.

Swallowed by consuming darkness Darius found himself wandering blindly, hands outstretched in front of him. He screamed and raved into the pitch. His vocal cords stretched painfully, the muscles in his throat cramping and spasming with effort. Yet he made not a sound. His voice gone, swept up into the void that consumed all light, all hope, all distance as he made no progress in spite of how his legs pumped. He couldn't breathe. The nothing-ness consumed everything...

After what felt like years Darius spoted a distant light and poured his heart and soul into reaching it. As he got nearer and nearer he could make out the bright familiar pink of the back of Brooklynn's head. Throwing his arms around the girl when at last he reached her Darius panted for breath, his nose crushed painfully tight against the back of her neck, his knees wobbling threatened to give way beneath him.

"Brooklynn, oh thank God Brooklynn, I found you!" the boy cried into the girl's hoodie. "I found you! I'm so scared! I'm so, so scared! I was alone! What's going on? Brooklynn? Brooklynn?" he asked relief short lived as she turned towards him.

Her face hard set Brooklynn's arms were folded tight across her chest, expression hating as she stared at the boy, wrath emanating from her. "Brooklynn?" he asked again perplexed at the anger she seemed to direct towards him.

"So, which one of us is next?" she asked shifting her weight from one foot to the other, the green of her eyes somehow alive and growing with the wilds of the jungle.

"What I-" lanced with fright, Darius was caught off guard and off balance by the strong pair of hands that shoved him from behind.

"Yeah," Kenji said, a cavernous hole cleaved into his chest, as he circled him. "Who are you killing this time?"

"I didn't- what? No it was an accident!" Darius pleaded hoping to prove his innocence as he held up startlingly blood stained hands in a placating manner, trying to beg their forgiveness.

"It's me isn't it?" Yaz snaps appearing on his left, pushing him hard as she balanced on one worn appendage blood pouring from the stump where her other leg used to be. "Bummed leg, perfect distraction next time Toro's on our tails! Admit it, you've thought it before!" 

"Is it me?" Sammy spits venomously from behind a veil of tears. "For all the lies?"

"Why Ben, Darius?" Kenji asks shoving him again.

"Yeah, what'd he ever do to you?" Brooklynn adds as they form a circle around him, pushing, shoving, and hitting him.

"Who's next? Who's next? Who's next?" They all chant growing more and more angry and violent with each passing second. 

Darius, heart hammering tries to protect his head, letting out a shout when somehow he breaks free, stumbling away from the others he looks back to see them watching him go. Heartbroken, and afraid he knows he can't stay and has to get away from them, that was when he turned and saw his dad. Overjoyed at the bittersweet sight he walks towards the man who seems to be looking down at something.

"Dad?" the boy asks with a nervous waver to his voice.

"Darius," the man says turning with grief in his gaze. "What have you done?"

Alarm bells sounding in his head every fiber of Darius' being screaming for him not to look. He found himself moving towards the edge of the darkness anyway. Peering down, overwhelmed with fear a tangible force that looped about his neck like a noose he sees three damning red stains far below.

"Dad no! It wasn't my fault! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" he laments grabbing onto his father's hand.

"I thought I raised you better than this!" the man wept, yanking out of his son's grip. "I'm so disappointed in you!"

"Who's next?" the others ask approaching him with slow menace. "Who's next? Who's next?"

Waking with a start, body covering in cold sweat, there's a dull thud, vision flaring, ears ringing Darius rolls out from the bottom bunk and onto the floor after hitting his head soundly. Gulping air in tight shallow waves he looks out into the main bedroom of the hotel room and at the others, draped in the gentle glow of early morning light. Tears rolling down his cheeks in desperation not to wake them the boy scrambled back until he hit his head on something small and round. It rattled.

Recognizing the doorknob of a closet Darius opens it, backing himself into the small confining space, shutting the door behind him as he frantically rips down what clothes had been left behind. Burying himself in the fabric the boy holds it over his mouth, using the cloth to muffle his screams as he lets them out again, and again, and again. The last few moments of the nightmare trickled into the forefront on his mind as he bawled into the abandoned apparel.

He hadn't been pushed over the edge, he'd jumped...

Unaware of how long he'd spent screaming in the dark Darius emerged with a sore throat to the golden light of mid-morning, eyes swollen, and more tired than he had been the night before. Tip-toeing into the bathroom he splashed some cool water onto his face, trying to wash away the haunting dream, that plagued him, though the guilt, and shame remained. Watching his friends sleep, and breathe for several minutes to assure himself that they were all alive and well the young man felt a swell of determination to do everything in his power to see them all home.

Swiping the master key card from the dresser beneath the television he was ready to put the first and so far only stage of his plan into again: food and clothes.

Giving the door a firm rattle behind him to ensure that the other campers were secured, Darius moved on to the next room. Starting out easy he began searching through the mini fridge for anything worth while. A half eaten cheese burger, some fries, and an extremely wilted side salad, score! The next few rooms he conducted the same type of survey, hit or miss, something good, like a bowl of penne pasta in one or absolute squat in another. Gathering these scavenged leftovers together he assembled them by the door of 608.

After Darius had aquired what he felt like was a decent enough haul came the hard part. Hands still shaking from lingering anxiety caused by the nightmare the boy started nosing around through dresser drawers, and suitcases, looking for something that each of them could change into. Holding up a pink tee with the Eiffel Tower on it, the boy couldn't fight the feeling that what he was doing was disgusting, and perverse in a way. These weren't his things, they belonged to other people, some of those people might even be dead by now and here Darius was critiquing their fashion choices and comparing them to what he knew of his friends. It was with no other words to describe it: wrong.

He leapt up suddenly, startled and embrassed by a pair of lacey red panties and an adult toy which fell out of a bundle of clothes onto the floor. Red faced and ashamed Darius mentally declared room 611 a failure, afraid to search it any further. Turning to leave he caught sight of the digital clock nestled on the nightstand between the beds.

9:37am July 30th, 2015, the fancy piece of tech displayed.

Oh, the boy thought sinking to ground near the door. Today was his birthday. He gave a sorrowful thought for home, his mom, Brand... What must they be going through right now? he wondered, bitterly imagining them garbed in black, ashen faced and weeping as they had been at dad's funeral, before imaging what he would be doing with them right now; plunging face first into some cake, Brand's hand at the back of his head. He hated it when his older brother shoved him into the cake though he'd never admitted it before, but letting out a sob he would have given the world to experience that embarrassment again, mom snapping the yearly "got ya," pic. It would be the first year without dad too... he grieved. Was he ever going to see them again? Staying there for a moment, head in his hands Darius let the moment pass.

Shoving his emotions down with defiance, he ignored the swelling hurricane within his chest, stood up, and carried on with his task. The others were depending on him, and he couldn't let them down.

Back in the room Darius quietly set out the pilfered clothes in several sets, there was plenty to choose from, including several pairs of loose baggy pants he felt Yasmina would be more comfortable trying to wear after she had fussed with red faced embarrassment to hide her underwear between all of the tears last night. After finalizing the arrangement, the boy retrieved the styrofoam and plastic containers marked with the names and emblems from various eateries from around the park and began popping them one at a time into the microwave.

It was as he nuked the third portion that the others began to stir, with moans and groans of various stages of wakefulness and discomfort.

"Is that- pizza?" Brooklynn mumbled into the blankets before sitting up. Her hands held out in front of her she looked like a mad scientist's experiment rising from the slab. The swelling in her forearms had gone down considerably overnight, but the girl still moved as though she was still in an astonishing amount of pain.

"No, sorry." Darius shook his head. " I can go take another look, but it's just pasta."

"I love pasta." she grumbled getting up and making her way past him to the bathroom.

Yasmina was the next to make her consciousness known, snapping up stiff and rigid she gripped the area above her knee, teeth clenched she let out a breath that reminded Darius of women in movies when they had babies. How could he have been so fucking stupid? he cursed himself. He should have looked for pain meds or something!

"I'll be right back!" he announced racing out of the room. 

Crashing through the other abandoned spaces, practically ripping down medicine cabinets hidden so cleverly behind bathroom mirrors he tried to find something, anything that could be of use. After some trial and error he scrambled back to their room with several bottles of over the counter pain relievers, an antibiotic, and a bottle of oxycodone.

Glancing around 608 he saw that the others had already started moving on without him. Stung, and wishing there was more he could do to help he announced his findings while Sammy who was already wearing a new pair of baggy pants, her jeans discarded on the floor in the hallway was busy unraveling the cursing mummy that was Kenji.

"We shouldn't of let you sleep like this-" she was muttering half to herself, half to Kenji as she worked to unbind his chest. "We're going to give you pneumonia or something! Trans boy 101."

"And why do you know about trans boy 101?" Brooklynn scoffed made irritable by their situation as she resumed reheating duties at the microwave.

"Screw you Brooklynn nobody ever asks why you know half the shit you do!" Yaz shouted from the other side of the bed in anger before turning to Darius with a harsh gleam in her eye. "Are you gonna give me the drugs or what?" she yelled, snapping Darius who was watching their tense goings-on in a half aware, trance like state. It felt almost like watching a movie, a horrific, post-apocalyptic movie.

"Uh, yeah, sorry!" the boy nodded, quickly eyeing the dosage instructions for the oxy to be sure he wasn't going to give her too much by mistake. Rushing around the foot of the bed he doled out one round white pill. "I'll get you some-" He had been going to say 'water,' when through her hurt and her tears Yasmina dry swallowed the medication.

Their eyes met briefly, and from here Darius could see how much agony the girl was really in, and just how hard she was trying not to cry. Reaching down he gripped Yasmina's shoulder tightly with reassurance as Sammy worked on her bedmate on the other side.

"You ok?" Brooklynn asked shuffling over.

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine." Darius nodded trying to break free of the pervasive thoughts that clouded his mind.

She seemed to size him up for a minute before going on, "Can I get some of that?"

Darius hesitated, before moving to open the prescription bottle again when the girl shook her head. "The ibuprofen, I don't want to use up all of the strong stuff in case we need it."

"We're gonna need it!" Kenji interjected, white knuckling the sheets beside them. They both seemed to consider helping but Sammy gave a brisk shake of her head, having noticed the way they looked at her patient.

"Here." Darius smiled sadly dumping a pair of red pills into the girl's palm, tapping the bottle until a third tumbled out to join it's siblings. Her hands beginning to inflate from use looked really painful again, Darius thought.

"Thanks." she said popping them and getting back to work.

A short while later, everyone was medicated, and the food divided equally, campers picking and choosing their favorites from an array of choices and combinations. With the promise that while they still had power in this part of the park they would have more quick meals over the next few days appealing the kids ate in relative, but appreciative silence before moving off to take showers and change. 

Trying to forget the abrasive manner in which Kenji had refused to bathe altogether, but especially if it meant accepting Darius' help to accomplish the task, the now sixteen year old tipped his head back into the spray relishing the hot water seeping into his every pour. As he worked his finger tips through his dense curls, allowing the water to wash away tension and dirt alike Darius tried to let himself relax even as he wondered how the girls were managing with Yasmina in the other bathroom. He really hoped the meds were working as well as she assured them they were, but couldn't help worrying that she might hurt herself even worse because of them.

Trying to set all of that aside the young man willed himself to relax and stop thinking. A few moments later his valiant efforts put aside he was trying to formulate a plan. They had to contact the wide world beyond Isla Nublar, let someone out there know they had been left behind. That was priority number one.  Priority two was defense and with a kitchen fully stocked and loaded with all sorts of cutlery several floors below them it didn't seem too daunting a task. Then they had to secure an established source of food while they waited.

Contact, he thought then his mind circling back to the task at hand, establishing a connection. The park's central control probably had working lines, if they could make it. Then it would just be a waiting game until rescue arrived. He felt fairly certain that they had chosen a secure place to fortify, but would it be one easily spotted from the air when rescue did arrive?

Darius wasn't sure how difficult a task all this would be, or where exactly to go from there, but for the time being he told himself as insecurities began to surface, at least, they had food, water, and shelter. Not bad for six- five... Not bad for five kids left behind on killer dinosaur island... the train of thought squeezed his heart too tight, a flare of color flashing before his gaze, head beginning to pound. Crouching onto the tile flooring Darius allowed himself to cry, trying to be quiet as he did...

Mopping his face with a towel, fresh clothes clinging to his less than adequately dried stick of a figure he exited the steam fill bathroom. Taking in the room at a glance Darius saw the others fresh, clean, and in brighter spirits than they had been before, except for Kenji. Still, no one really spoke, the spector of death looming over them there was only so much smalltalk one could make. Instead they sat around the room staring at the television Sammy was trying to get working again. Something must have happened to the dish, Darius thought, as she fiddled with it.

Sitting on the edge of the bed nearest the door the boy sighed, trying to figure out how to voice his plan of going to central control when Brooklynn, her hair piled atop her head in a towel broke the silence.

"We gotta find some way to get a call out to the mainland or something." she said, palms slapping flat against her thighs with exasperation.

"No shit!" Kenji barked.

Unease fell over the room as each child found a spot on the carpet or ceiling to study with intent. It was as he was staring at the dresser across from him that Darius could see the pink haired girl clenching and curling her bare toes nervously from the corner of his eye. Brooklynn had an idea, but she didn't want to say what she was thinking, he surmised, taking note of how she chewed her bottom lip. Watching her closely Darius tried to deduce the secrets she was keeping inside, gently nudging her with an elbow when at last he was resigned to the fact that he had failed to piece together the puzzle.

"All I'm saying is I would never be caught dead without my-" Brooklynn's whispered words stopped short, tears stinging her eyes as what was once an innocent phrase they'd all uttered time to time took on a more real, and sinister meaning.

Darius' heart leapt into his throat when he realized what she had been trying to say. Eyes closed he took a steadying breath, his hand finding hers, fingers interweaving he said it for her. "Guys," he started meekly. "Someone down there has to have a cellphone on them... I think we should try and... find one..."

"That's, actually, not a bad idea..." Sammy muttered, falling back onto the bed by Kenji's feet the girl hugged herself at the grim thought.

Kenji himself gagged in shock and disgust, "You want us to dig through the pockets of dead people?" he called out distastefully. "That's so fucked up!"

"No," Yaz croaked, pushing herself up on her elbows to look over him to Darius. "They're right, but I don't think either one of us-"

The kids turned to one another, a haunting expression passing between them as they let the idea hang in the air. 

Jaw set Darius compared this new concept to the one he had devised in the shower. Each plan had its own merits and drawbacks. Central control was quite a ways from where they had established their base of operations, it was bound to have more supplies, and with it's tracking systems and communication network would make for a surefire way to be visible and have a direct and reliable line to any rescuers who came looking for them. But, getting everyone there safely was a gamble, as was the possibility of central control having power with which to operate, let alone place a call. How crippling would it be to drag everyone all that way to have nothing to show for it?

Brooklynn's idea - a quiver ran through the boy and contracted his gut. It was easier to implement, didn't require the whole party to stick together, and had more odds at success. With roughly one cell per person down there they were bound to find one in working condition, and while he wasn't entirely sure how relay towers worked Darius knew the satellites were still up there so they'd be able to get a signal somehow, wouldn't they? It was just a matter of acquiring a phone...

"I think we have to try it." he muttered.

"Ok." Sammy nodded, getting to her feet after a while. "We can do this, and the longer we wait, the more nerve we're gonna lose."

"Yep." Darius agreed, fists clenched tight, he didn't want to do this. "First I think we should probably gear up though."

Sammy silently concurred.

The nervous pair ambled towards the door, no one was quite sure what to say in a situation like this, not one of those staying behind envied the two and their harrowing task. Sliding off the edge of her bed Brooklynn, as though having second thoughts fell in line behind Sammy.

"Where do you think you're going?" Yasmina called to her, making the others turn to stare at the girl who's arms were folded loosely across her abdomen.

"To go help..." she shrugged trying to play their circumstances off.

"And what exactly do you think you're going to accomplish?" the runner snarked.

"I don't know." Brooklynn confessed her brows coming together. "I just- I know I can't do much, but I can be a lookout or something. I just- it was my-"

"No, it's ok, it was my idea." Darius cuts in, making his way to the girl he gives a wavering smile. "But I know I'd feel better with someone watching my back, that's for sure."

"Me too." Sammy chipped in with her signature enthusiasm, though it was tainted by the task they had to undertake.

The only one who didn't seem to have come to the same accord was Yasmina, still half sitting in bed she glowered at the others, eyes narrowed. The trio shrunk beneath her withering expression before the girl fell back onto the pillows with a sigh of futility. "I should be going with you guys." she muttered to the ceiling, adding instructions of, "Just- be careful alright." a few minutes later.

"We will be." Darius promised.

Stepping out of main lobby, armed with knives from the kitchen the children felt more capable of taking on close to whatever the world had to throw at them. Sweat pooling under his arms and trickling down his back, butcher knife held aloft Darius led the way, Brooklynn her head pivoting this way and that for signs of danger, wrists braced stationary from the front desk in the middle, while Sammy brought up the rear.

Together they tiptoed and picked their way down the little avenue the Pre-Historic Plaza was located on, heading towards the heart of the park where they had seen most of the carnage littering the ground. The world was silent, eerily so, as they walked on a razor's edge ears burning for want of sound.

"It's really, really quiet." Sammy observed apprehensively after a while. When she received only nods of agreement the girl pressed on. Darius could hear the cold, trepidation filled tang in her voice as she asked, "Is that a good sign, or a bad one?"

"All I'm saying is, shouldn't we hear birds or something?" the cowgirl rambled on when no one replied. "You know back home when it gets this quiet it's because-"

"Sammy!" Brooklynn whisper-shouted over her shoulder. Darius turned to watch the exchange, his mouth dry with anxiety. "We're all scared, but if we're the only things out here making any noise that means everything else that's out here that's not is going to hear us!"

"I-I'm sorry, I was just-" Sammy stammered.

"It's ok," Darius smiled. "I'm a nervous talker too, it's just-" he paused motioning with his weapon to the environment they found themselves in. "Eh!" he said scrunching his face to emphasize his point. Letting out a taught giggle Sammy gave a sharp nod.

After they had walked in the unnatural hush for a long while the children found their first sign of life, a little Compy that shrilled at the campers angrily as they approached. Sparing the animal only a passing glace the trio huddled together tightly, their backs pressed close together as they circled fearfully.

"You think Indominous did this?" Brooklynn asked, surveying the rubble of a half dozen destroyed shops and buildings they would have passed through the day before had they continued towards The Grand.

"More important than that, do y'all think he's still around?" Sammy added as they huddled behind the dusty remains of brick, wood, and drywall that used to be a little cafe, much to the diminutive dinosaur's annoyance.

"Could explain why it's so quiet." Darius reasoned out loud. "Apex predator hanging about, everyone else to afraid to challenge them? Or be seen as prey?"

Dismissing the tiny green therapod who seemed determined to claim the debris as her own, the kids peered over the heap, staring hard towards the heart of the park. Amidst all of the ruin and devastation that was the toppled empire of Jurassic World, they could see what they had ventured out into the unknown for, bodies. His stomach knotted sharply Darius felt himself beginning to tremble. If digging through people's clothes made him feel dirty- he shuddered ducking down again, eyes closed tightly against the dreadful sight.

He couldn't do this, he just couldn't- fingers laced together with his free hand, he turned to see Brooklynn watching him. Darius had no smile to offer her, not in that moment as Sammy buried her face into his right shoulder. Swallowing hard past the lump in his throat the boy condemned himself for being so selfish, not one of them was looking forward to what came next, how could he have neglected that turth? Besides, it was his job to make sure they were all alright, his job to insure that they all got home, that no one, no one else died. 

How could he have forgotten that? Darius wondered hatefully of himself.

Clinging tightly to one another the children hesitated, weeping silently for the dead, and themselves, with what they were about to do. Standing the girls cloying at him, clutching at his new oversized shirt they beckoned Darius to sit back down. But, like Sammy had pointed out back in the room, he thought ruefully, there was no sense in delaying the inevitable.

"It's ok," he rasped pulling free. "I'd got this. Just watch my back..."

Neither one argued as they trailed the boy, sticking close together.

Heart hammering Darius struggled against a wave of vertigo, head swimming. Everything within him screamed for him to turn tail and run. This was death, up close, raw. Not the fleeting ghost of life transversing the veil, this was the reality of what was left behind. His strides growing shorter, less sure as he approached the nearest body Darius found his airway caught, unable to breathe in or out as he walked nearer to the greyish, bloated corpse of a heavy set man in khaki shorts and a tattered Motley Crue tee.

Then the pang hit him. Deep and earthy, but also unsettlingly sweet the festering stench of a rotting body flared through his nostrils, in a burgeoning reek that found it's way into his mouth.

Retreating from the horrendous scene Darius felt the vomit rushing out of his mouth as he ran. Hands rubbing slow circles in his back the others stayed with him. They all heaved and wretched, crying, but no one spoke. There was nothing to say. Eyes wide they prayed not to alert anything that might be lurking nearby.

Blinking fiercely Darius felt a surge of strength course through him, self preservation a very real instinct that overwhelmed much else. In that instant he pulled his shirt up over and mouth and nose, storming back to what was once a man. His courageousness faltering when the boy took in the sight of the stranger's face, pitted and torn from the prying beaks and teeth of scavengers, a cloud of flies buzzing around, their wriggling brood feasting on the man's empy eye-socket, Darius felt sick again, the stench invasive.

More than that however, he was sorry, so very sorry. This was a person, someone who had come to this place for entertainment, joy, maybe he had to save up to afford the trip. This should have one of the happiest times of his life, something he would remember for the rest of his days. Instead, it was to be the end of them.

"I'm so sorry..." Darius mourned before taking the plunge. Fishing around in first his left pocket, then the right he came up with only a wallet. Discarding it he ran back to the girls who hugged and wept with him for several minutes.

Sammy throwing a discarded can at the creatures that flocked and gathered nearby chortling at their good fortune was the first one to break away from the group. Through her grief there seemed to be a rage that moved her on invisible strings as she roughly searched and maneuvered her way through a cluster of trampled unfortunates. Patting down pockets here, slinging abandoned handbags over her arm there, she went from twisted figure to twisted figure until with a despairing wail to the heavens she collapsed.

"I can't!" she whimpered into the concrete. "I just can't! All these people! I'm sorry! I can't!"

Brooklynn pulled the other girl into her lap with an agonizing struggle, running puffy fingers over her face, brushing the hair away. "Shh," she cooed wracked with sobs of her own. "It's ok, it's ok. No one's asking you to, we're done. It was a stupid idea. We're done." she promised as the two of them rocked back and forth.

"Broken." Darius muttered through the sour taste of his disbelief as he sorted through the confiscated purses, finding only fractured and ruined devices within. "They're all broken."

Shaking the boy turned and started in with "There has to be one that's not-" he stopped, the anguish in Brooklynn's eyes extinguishing the fire within. Then Sammy turned and reached for the boy, pulling him into their broken embrace. "It's ok." he whispered smoothing down the Texan's hair. "It's ok, let's go back. We'll try something else, maybe-" made unable to finish his sentence by the piercing alarm call of the clutch of compsognathus that darted and scrambled about them Darius sat up alert.

"We have to go!" he said in a rush, fishing his blade from ground pulse pounding causing dark spots to form behind his eyes.

Hurrying to their feet the girls clustered around him as they searched fearfully for whatever it was that made the compys flee. Then they heard it, a hoarse whistle, followed by clicking from somewhere further down the street.

"Raptors?" Darius gasped, though he couldn't be sure. It was then that the campers recognized how pointless their efforts to arm themselves had been their knives seeming like play things compared to the killing teeth and claws of the monsters that surrounded them. 

Without further discussion they ran.

They hadn't made it far when grabbing the other two by the backs of their shirts Darius dragged them into a hollowed out building when a threatening figure crossed their path. The boy's mind raced trying to find a way out of this. He spotted the overturned refrigerator, Coca-Cola written in easily identifiable script across the side he shoved his friends towards it. Struggling the girls crawled into the claustrophobically tight, space beneath it. A frantic cry of helplessness escaping from between his teeth the boy then pried open a soda dousing the girls and the ground around them with the sticky liquid hoping to help cover their scent before leaping over the counter with no time to spare.

Back pressed against the shelves behind him, eyes closed Darius clung to his knife with both hands. Praying in his heart he listened to the animal as it moved around the shop. His body felt weak, faint, when he heard it sniffing and snuffling about, peering just over the counter he watched it approach the fridge.

I'll make a distraction, he thought then, eyeing the employee exit across from him. I can run fast enough, lead it away, then they'll be safe, he rationalized. He was getting ready to put his plan into action, knees weak and refusing to hold him upright when a distant call caught the attention of the animal not twenty feet away from him. Crowing back the threatening beast seemed to think better of whatever it was doing, an almost jubilant tone to it's bone chilling call it turned and darted out back the way it had come.

Trying to remember how to breathe, how to making his body cooperate, and articulate speech Darius moved back to the girls helping them out of hiding Brooklynn whimpering as without any other choice he pulled her free by the arms.

"Are you alright?" Darius asked in a concerned hush.

"No!" Brooklynn shook her head.

"We just gotta go!" Sammy interrupted the first to get to her feet. "Come on!"

It took the trio the next two hours to find their way back 'home,' making use of the ruble as they found places to hide from the threats that only seemed to grow out all around them. When at last they walked into 608, it was with fear numbed limbs, and souls crestfallen with defeat. Neither Yasmina nor Kenji posed any questions, quietly accepting their new found reality for what it was as the others made their way to the showers, Darius gathered what supplies he needed he ducked out and into the next room over.

Screaming, this time heedless of who heard, he damned himself for everything that had happened.

That evening picking without much appetite at the half a, he assumed lamb, gyro he had procured Darius watched the movie Sammy had put on after getting the television to work the result of hours of tinkering. There had to be someway to see what the world was seeing, to get a news feed, or something Darius brooded watching the kids show with mild interest. It was a good distraction, and seemed to soothe the others, but the young man wanted, needed more. JWTV, an endless stream of all the events, amenities, and attractions the park and hotel offered, and JWKTV, dinosaur themed cartoons hosted by Mr DNA for now their only other options aside from the streaming service they were currently using.

Unable to force himself to take another bite, Darius set the food aside and walked out onto the balcony ignoring the ominous feeling that crept up his spine. Inhaling the cool night air the boy felt himself afflicted by the trials of the day. He couldn't shake the vile act of sifting through a dead man's pockets, watching the fat, happy fly larvae making a feast of his corpse. The smell, the smell the boy felt lingered on his skin and hair no matter how many time he had scrubbed himself raw. He gave a start when something brushed against his arm.

"Sorry." Brooklynn whispered, looking at him pitifully.

"It's ok." Darius croaked.

The two watched the stars dancing in the sky, listening to the night-songs of many beasts far below, the trumpeting calls of the brachiosaurus herd edging towards main street echoing out around them. Standing here so far above all the rest of it, it almost seemed beautiful, Darius thought.

"It's kind of pretty." Brooklynn said then. Darius turned to watch her, then he realized she was seeing it, truly seeing it for the first time without the protection a camera lense separating her from the rest of the world.

"Yeah it is." he agreed. "It's just too bad that-"

"I know!" she bit out, making Darius regret allowing his melancholy to ruin what might be the last peaceful moment he got to enjoy.

"I'm sorry." he apologized.

"No," Brooklynn sighed, eyes shut tight. "I'm sorry I-" the girl let out an exhausted breath, cheeks expanding as though she were blowing up a balloon. "Thanks for everything today... It was my idea then I... I didn't have the guts to..."

Darius elbowed her more sharply than he intended to. "You don't thank someone for something like that." he snapped in anger, before compassion won out. "But I get what you're saying, and you're welcome." he grimaced at his own words.

The two stood together without speaking for a while before Brooklynn dared ask the question she'd been clinging to all day. "Are you alright?" she asked looking up at the boy who couldn't help but laugh in her face.

"What the hell kind of question is that?" he scoffed.

Brows knit the girl clearly didn't see any humor in the situation. "I mean it," she said maintaining an even tone. "Even this morning, before all this shit went down, something was wrong with you, I mean- ugh!" she grit her teeth together. "None of us are ok but- you're I don't know- spacey- less ok! I just- forget it sorry I asked!"

"No, wait." he pleaded, stopping her with a hand on her arm. 

How was he supposed to tell her the truth? How would she ever be able to look at him the same way ever again if he told her that Kenji was right that it had been his fault that Ben had fallen, died? How could he even begin to form into words all the things he was experiencing, the struggles he was going through? The knowledge gnawing at the pit of his stomach that they would all be better off without him?

It wasn't a whole truth, but it wasn't exactly a half lie either. With a sigh Darius looked at her, gaze mournful. "Promise not to tell anyone else?"

"Promise." the girl vowed an earnest look crossing her face.

"Today's," Darius groaned. "Today's my birthday."

"Oh." Brooklynn said as though this explained everything.

"And I've just been," choking on tears Darius was startled by how moved he was by what he was saying and just how keenly he was being affected by his sorrow. "I've just been thinking about home a lot- I know we all have- it's just-"

"I get it." the girl promised pulling him into a hug as he wept.

"So," she asked after a while, when the birthday boy had composed himself. "What would you have wanted for your sweet sixteen? No wait- let me guess! A new hotrod?" she giggled.

"No." the boy shook his head smiling at her infectious laughter. "For as long as I can remember all I wanted for my birthday was-" he winced. "To come here."

"Oh yikes!" Brooklynn gasped. "Be careful what you wish for!"

"You're telling me!" Darius rolled his eyes.

"Hey," Sammy called stepping through the sliding glass door moments later. "They're out cold."

"Yeah." Brooklynn nodded as if she'd expected nothing less.

"You two planning on turning in soon?" the cowgirl asked coming to stand beside them taking in the wide view that stretched out before them.

"Nah." Darius shook his head, heart arithmetic at the thought of falling back into the realm of nightmares.

"Me either." Brooklynn agreed watching to moon trek higher in the sky.

"Yeah," Sammy nodded with a shiver. "I don't think I can fall asleep just yet myself... Y'all want some coffee? And maybe some company?"

Nodding the other two watched Sammy disappear back inside. Fighting the horrors of the day by ignoring them, and fending off much needed sleep with caffeine was far from the healthiest choice, Darius was well aware, but honestly the couldn't care less. Her head resting on his shoulder Brooklynn let out a little sigh as they watched the slumbering world below.

"Happy birthday Darius..." she murmured. 

Arm wrapping awkwardly about her, Darius let his head rest on her's. "Thanks." he muttered the world going dark as a thick bank if clouds passed over the moon...