Lighting Wolflion

“Where is it coming from?” Sammy asked nervously.

Yasmina leaned herself on the balcony, looking out for a bit and then shook her head, "Can't see anything from here. The trees are blocking everything.” she stated, gesturing at the trunks frustrated.

Darius thought, “Maybe they are moving a new dinosaur from the lab to an enclosure?” he offered, excitement starting to run through him. A whole new dinosaur. “We could maybe see it from the Observation tower!” he exclaimed, “Could be cool.” Raven instantly jumped up leaving his sketchbook on the couch. “It’s something I never heard before, you can bet I wanna go see it if we can!”

“Woow!! It’s a great idea guys! What are we waiting for!?” Sammy rushed, Darius felt his hand grabbed, the cowgirl quickly dragging him to the elevator showing much excitement. Brooklynn seemed to suddenly remember what they were doing before the interruption, and quickly shot a glare and turned back to the escaping rancher, “Hey! We are not done talking about this yet,” she said following her.

“But, but. Guys!!” worriedly said Ben, “It’s Indoor Arts and Crafts day! And Dave and Roxie said we had to stay here, inside. And not leave!” Ben’s panicked voice rose up. In his mind there were already enough dinosaurs on this scary island, there was no need for creating new unknown ones. He looked around in search of someone to back him, “so we should stay and wait for them, right… Kenji?”

The VIP was the only one still in the back of the room, but quickly jumped over the couch and right over Ben, “If you wanna stay here and draw your dino-child, go for it.” He said condescendingly tapping the boy’s shoulders, while Ben looked at him disappointedly, a cheeky smile on his lips, “I’m gonna go see me a T.rex or a girl-fight.” He continued backing out, “Either way, I win. Ka-ching!” he rejoiced, running to the elevator. Ben searched for more help, and looked at Daniel, the older boy shrugging and walking over to Raven waiting in the elevator, “I'd agree with you Ben, but last time I did my own thing you all almost got killed, so.” That and he was feeling something was off. Brooklynn’s phone disappearing and now a mysterious roar.

“FIne,” shouted the fearful boy still sitting in his spot, “Go on! I’ll just stay where we are supposed to stay, wait who we are supposed to wait for, and be right where we are supposed to be.” He said, crossing his arms and crouching himself on the couch. Suddenly the space felt too big, the silence of everyone gone oppressing. Looking up, the tiny dots of fairy light made the T.rex skull stare right at him, too alive, like it wanted to spit the crooked wreath and make a single bite out of him. Fear coursed through his body and he sprung up running to the elevator, “WAIT, Guys! I’m coming too!!”

For his luck, the elevator doors hadn’t fully closed yet, held up by black vans. They closed as he squeezed in between the others, the floaty feeling of the elevator starting to go down making him sick.

The clock signed 12:10 when a croaky voice from the abandoned speaker on the table started shouting

Asset out of containment. Repeat, asset out of containment. Stay indoors. ACU is responding. A team is coming to get every camp resident to the main park.

-

Darius had memorized the path to the Observation Tower on that first day and easily guided the group, the birds chirping and the bugs buzzing around, only stopping when he found the gate closed. Kenji and Yaz tried to force it open, but it was useless.“It’s locked,” said Kenji out of breath, stating what was evident. Yasmina leaned on the door, looking for any other way in. She could probably climb over it.

“OH well this is so unfortunate,” said Ben, “Guess we can’t get in. We should all go back before someone comes along and we get in trouble.” He nervously continued, taking some steps in the direction of camp. The jungle moved ominously making him still stick close to the group.

Kenji suddenly turned around, as if something just crossed his mind, frantically looking through the trees, “Wait. Ben is right, where is everybody?” A slight edge came up in his voice, “There’s usually someone around keeping guard.” He was no math genius, but for sure things were not right with this. And if they couldn’t open the door, maybe it was really better to get back…

“Move aside.” Brooklynn said. “If we are doing this…” she put one hand in her hair, fishing out a hair-pin, bending one side and making the other stick slightly up, “Then we might as well do this.” She crouched in front of the door, starting to work on the lock. There were a few clicks, and some minutes later the door swung open, “Ta-daa!” proudly said the superstar under the impressed and surprised looks of everyone. She smiled pleased by the reactions. “What? None of you saw my “Unboxing Kathmandu” video? “Hacks For When You Lock Yourself Out Of Your Hotel Room”?” she asked, specifically looking over to Sammy as she did say she was a fan of her channel - but who knew if it was even true or not - smug.

“Last to the top is a rotten egg!” Shouted the cowgirl, quickly running past her and up the steep wooden staircase. She didn’t have time to react as Yasmina bolted in front of her too, “Later, rotten egg.” the trackstar said to her. Oh she would not let that pass so easily and quickly ran behind her. The boys followed. 

Despite having done that flight of stairs already once, they had not done it while running. Soon the air was filled with their panting and huffing for air. Sammy kept going as fast as she could trying to put distance from Brooklynn. In a sense she was running from her crimes. Surprisingly Yaz remained behind her, the only one not struggling. It seemed almost like she was just doing a very light jog. On the other hand the Superstar started losing ground. Sammy didn't bother too much looking where everyone else was, reaching the top and flopping on the railguard, “Whoosh.. Is anybody else hot?” She fanned herself, “It is hot.” She heard the snort of suppressed giggle. She now turned around. Behind her, like she knew, was Yaz, barely sweaty and not panting, then surprisingly Daniel, the boy with a very light pant but overall in better condition than the rest of them, “It was easier than I thought," he said. Following were Darius and Raven, and in the last stretch, Brooklynn, Ben and lastly, Kenji, who basically was giving up on the last ramp.

“No, more..” the rich boy panted, “there better be something good.” He collapsed on the landing.

Now it was only a matter of waiting to see if something showed up.

They didn’t have to wait much.

The tower started slightly shaking. The sound of thumping footsteps approaching. They held their breath as they all piled on the railing, hearing a braying call before the foliage started shaking, some branches breaking. The head of a brachiosaurus rose up in between two trees. The animal munching on the high leaves. A chorus of disappointed voices came from the kids.

“It’s just a Brachiosaurus.” Said Yasmina.

Ben was the most relieved of them all, "Mystery solved! We can go back now!” to his dismay, Darius started shaking his head.

“That doesn’t make sense.” The young kid said, “Brachiosauruses don’t roar. They are more like. Sing. or, sound like a bugle.” He tried to describe, imitating then the sounds to bring his point across. This caused some laughs from Kenji and Brooklynn, “Didn’t quite catch that. One more time?” mocked the rich boy.

“He said they sound more like whales, easy enough now for you?” spat Daniel moving next to Darius, Raven behind them made the call again. For a second it seemed the Brachiosaurus looked over, still chewing. Sammy thought it was cute how the two older boys were always backing up the young kid, like older brothers against bullies.

Then some voices came from below the tower. Kenji looked over the railing. Two men were waving their arms and shouting over at them. But they couldn’t hear what they were saying.

“Oh great, they look mad. I told you we would get in trouble.” Ben said, leaning away from the railing.

Kenji put his hand around his mouth, trying to project his voice more, “You are gonna have to speak up!” he shouted, before turning to the rest of them, “Don’t worry guys, I got this. Mr. VIPcan do anything.”

The Brachiosaurus let out a loud scream, making them all look up back at her. She got on her hind legs, gashes appearing on her skin from nothing. And then she fell down with a last pained call.

The kids let out a scream. 

“What happened?” whispered Brooklynn, one hand on her mouth in shock.

“T-the. How did it get injured so fast.” Ben stammered on his words, terrified. They could still hear the sound of something moving through the trees.

“Maybe we should... Go down and leave” Daniel said, looking back down at the men, who also had gotten quieter for a second, looking at the forest behind them. Then they turned back to them screaming again. But the moment they had turned their backs to the foliage something weird seemed to happen. The forest moved towards them, then the green slowly turned to sandy and then to white as a shadow warned the men. But it was too late for them when they started running. A mouth filled with crooked sharp teeth grabbing the first one. The second tried to turn the other way, but was hit by a massive tail, then the dinosaur that had appeared from nothing took a step back, crushing him under itself. It seemed to not realize what it had done, looking around still in search of the man scratching the ground with long clawed arms, emitting a loud roar. The same roar they had heard before. Now they knew what it came from, but the situation didn’t make them ease it out. Especially since they still had no idea what it was.

“D-darius, what is it?” Kenji asked, hiding behind the tiny boy.

“I don’t know.” He whispered. Everyone’s eyes were frozen on what had just happened. They had just seen two people get killed.

“So what is that?” Yasmina asked again, Ben going to hold on to her continuously whispering, “It got them, it killed them.”

No matter how much they wanted, they could not take their eyes off the white dinosaur who had now found what remained of the second man. At least its body was covering the surely disgusting spectacle for them. The dinosaur roared again in frustration.

Then Brooklynn let out a gasp, remembering something she had seen, “In Wu’s lab, there was a blueprint on his desk, with a dinosaur on it. It was labeled In-”

“Indominus Rex.” Sammy interrupted her with a frightened whisper.

“Yes, how do you know that name?” the Superstar asked the cowgirl, suspicion rising back up.

“There is no dinosaur called that,” Darius said, still holding on the railing, scared and confused by what he had in front of him. His brain was scanning for every species but nothing was a full match, only slight characteristics of some. As if the creature moving under them was an amalgamation of others, a hyb-

“There’s no time,” Sammy said, “we need to leave.” She moved back. “Now, now, NOW! We have to leave.”

“Uh uh, up here is safe, down there isn’t.” Kenji protested baking away as well, but still holding Darius in front of him, “besides, there’s no way that thing whatever-rex can even see us up here.” He tried to hopefully think.

To their horror when they looked back down to it, the dinosaur was, in fact, staring up at the top of the tower. At Them. Lips rising in a snarl. It sprinted toward the tower, tearing through the fencing as if it was made of mere paper and latching on the beams.

The impact made everything shake.

“Well, it can’t get up here,” Kenji said again. The tower shook again and to prove him wrong once again the dinosaur raised its back leg up on a beam, the mouth and long arms used as levers to bring it up. Creaking sounds made everything even worse, the structure collapsing under whatever amount of tons the beast weighed.

“It may not be able to come all the way up but it will bring us all down like this!” Raven shouted. The dinosaur continuing its tries, giant claws making indents and taking away chunks from the foundations of the building.

Claws still covered in the Brachiosaurus blood.

The repeated shaking made it incredibly hard to keep balance, and at some point they were all slipping back toward the railing.

Ben almost went over, being barely able to hold himself, his legs going between two of the supports.

Sammy did go over, screaming. It was Yasmina that with a sprint was able to get a hold on her. The dinosaur roared, mouth opening under the girl. In wait of her falling.

“Hold on!” Darius said getting up, soon coming to help the girls with Daniel and Kenji, bringing Sammy back on the landing. “That was close,” whispered the cowgirl, still being held by Yaz. The tower kept on shaking, bending forward, forward, towards the ground. One of the zip-line poles moved out and left the tower. They only needed a quick look with each other and they all made a run for it.

“Do we-” Ben started, but Kenji grabbed him and forced him to sit on the next one. He then snapped closed the harness as tight as he could around the slender boy. “Here,” he said, before turning him towards the drop and pushing with all his strength.  He watched him go for a moment before getting out of the way, Raven and Sammy pushing down Daniel.

“And two are out,” Raven said.

Under them the Indominus turned her head, a cry as some of her warm snacks flew away. With more force she continued her climb. The tower jerked again. The dinosaur taking out the middle beans with incredible strength.

They quickly rushed to get on their own seat and zip down. Sammy, Kenji, Brooklynn and Raven. It was only Yasmina and Darius left.

Yasmina was about to push when she heard the others scream. She turned around making a terrible discovery. The others had stopped in the middle of the line.

“It’s the emergency break!” Darius said. This was not good, how could they get out now, "I've got an idea.” The boy said again, unclamping himself and taking some steps back.

“Darius, what are you doing?” She asked, but the boy, even as scared as he was, kept backing up. “You’re strong? Like really really strong?” He only asked.

“Y- yeah but wh-” the tower crumpled some more. Darius took a breath, loudly exhaling, before sprinting towards her, shouting “Catch me!!”

She opened her arms in time as he jumped, and closed them around the tiny body of the kid. The push and added weight making them roll down at incredible speed, quickly approaching the stuck campers. She put all her concentration in holding Darius, gravity trying to have him slip out, and crashed against Raven's back, unlocking the blocked mechanism. Now they were all moving down the line again.

“Woo! It’s working!” Darius voiced.

They could see the other tower quickly getting closer when the one they started at crumbled down, the line going slack. And they were going down. The tree branches looking over them and the ground harshly welcoming them. And the world faded to black.

**

Soft rain glistened on her face, mixing up with the sweat on the beat of her rhythmic run. She made the last curve of the block and stopped in front of a house, checking the timer on her phone.

“Yes, new record!” She cheered. There was no doubt that the next competition would be hers. And with that a step close to the scholarship she wanted. She made her way inside, taking out the headphones still blasting her training playlist, putting her shoes on the last shelf of the shoe rack by the door.

“Coach has nothing to worry about next competition! I’ve got it locked in. Gold medal here I come.” She proudly said, “I’m at my fastest time yet.” She peaked over the living room door going to hug her mother.

“Your coach will have to worry if you strain yourself too much before said competition, Yasmina. Don’t push too much, there is still a month.” She hugged her back, “You may want to worry if your other ‘coach’ thinks you are not ready for school starting in a week.” Her mom joked poking at her.

“I’ll try going easier before the competition, fine, and you can be sure I am all caught up and ready for school too, mom. Now- going to shower.” She freed herself, making a run for the shower.

“There’s a package for you! Remember to look at it after. I think it’s from your sponsors.” Yasmina heard her mom shout after her. In the back of her head she hoped it wasn’t another ugly pair of shorts for the new season.

A quick cleaning to wash off the sweat after and she was staring at the box with the Jurassic World logo on it. At least it seemed to definitely be too big for just a pair of shorts. She turned it around trying to figure out how to open it. The box seemed solid apart from a set of claw marks on one side. She pressed with her fingers on the grooves. The park’s theme started playing and the hologram technology illuminated the room with a projection of the park gates. The image slowly turned towards her, only to reveal the words “Camp Cretaceous” written on them, then the doors shook and the T.rex bursted through with a roar, the words ‘the camp is open’ appearing on top of the dinosaur. The last thing to show up was a December date and then everything went quiet.

Always so flashy with their campaigns. So not in her style. After all that the box opened and she started looking at what else was inside. The classic map of the park, now indicating a new spot up north. A compass, a camping hat and a backpack with a letter were also part of the package and half buried in strips of wavy paper.

“What is this time?” her mother asked, sitting next to her.

“The opening of a sort of summer or holiday camp it seems.” Yasmina said, reading the letter.

“Oh, do they want you to publicize it somehow?” unconvinced she asked.

“No.” Yaz answered, getting serious, “They invited me and some others to… ‘test’ it this December.” She tossed the letter to the side, “This is stupid. I don’t have time to waste at a camp.” She huffed.

Her mother grabbed the crumpled paper, giving a read, “It’s at the end of the month, basically during break, you wouldn’t have any training or competition in that time, so why not?” she tried.

“Maybe not any school competitio-” “Yasmina,” Her mom interrupted with a slight sight in her tone. They looked a bit at each other and she spoke again, “I'll call our Jurassic World contact and see what they’ll say. But I fear that if we still want their sponsorship it’s not something we can say no to.”

“Is it late for a new sponsor?” she jokingly pleaded, but truth was that JW was the best sponsor anyone would want and could have.

“It could be fun and it would be a nice break,” her mom tried again, “and maybe you’ll find some friends in these other kids you’ll be with.” She smiled.

Yasmina let out a deluded groan. Yeah friends. Distractions. Things that she did not need. She just had to focus on her goals without all these frivolous things holding back.

“I’ll think about it.” She conceded, then grabbed something to eat and moved to a chair near the window with her sketchbook. Drawing was the second best way to think after running.

“I’ll call the sponsor board tomorrow,” her mom looked at her, “I love you,” she said, leaving the room.

“Love you too, mom,” she answered, opening her sketchbook.

The recent drawings made at the last track morphed from the still life and landscapes turned into a white scaly beast, a loud roar making her jump up. 

--

Yasmina opened her eyes, gasping to get air back in. Winded like after a long run. The blue sky was over her, the leaves of palm trees waving on her head. Roars echoed in the distance. She turned her head, seeing the others lying like her on the ground, barely starting to get back to their senses too. She got the strength to move towards them, grabbing one of Sammy’s hands.

-

[total words ch6:7030 ]

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