"Darius! Your dinosaur obsession finally paid off! My engagement is skyrocketing!"
Brooklynn was buzzing with excitement. Having captured high-quality footage of Carlo driving off the herbivores, her social media stats were finally rebounding.
"Haha... and my reward is more poop-shoveling," Darius offered a dry laugh as they stepped out of the elevator and returned to the camp hub.
"Alright, guys, I'm leaving my phone here to charge. If you need it, go ahead, but make sure you keep it plugged in."
Standard rules at Camp Cretaceous forbade mobile phones, but Brooklynn was the exception. As a superstar influencer, being offline was simply not an option.
"Yeah, yeah…"
Kenji, trailing behind the pair, gave a non-committal wave. He looked as casual and indifferent as ever.
…
"So... who stole my phone?!"
Brooklynn stood in the doorway, arms crossed, looking absolutely livid. She had been kind enough to lend her phone to the group last night, and now it was nearly noon and the device was nowhere to be found.
"Brooklynn? I think the question you should be asking is, 'Who didn't touch your phone?'"
Yasmina was sitting on the sofa next to Sammy. She felt Brooklynn's accusatory tone was aimed squarely at her best friend, and her voice crackled with defensive friction.
"Uh... I used it to check the weather last night," Ben offered quickly, sensing the tension.
"Dr. Sattler published a new column on microfossils yesterday," Darius added.
"I couldn't pass up a prime selfie op, but I haven't touched it since, I swear," Kenji chimed in.
Brooklynn rolled her eyes and let out a heavy sigh.
"I... didn't see it either?" Sammy added softly, as if worried that being the only one silent would look suspicious.
"Really?" Brooklynn's gaze flickered to Sammy, her tone notably more skeptical than it had been with the others.
"Hey! Hey! It's fine. We can't go canoeing for a while anyway, so we have plenty of time to find it," Darius cut in, desperately trying to play peacemaker.
"ROAR—"
Suddenly, a distant, haunting roar cut through the argument.
"What was that?" Brooklynn asked, her anger instantly replaced by a cold chill. The sound was unlike anything they'd heard—primal and terrifying.
"Uh... emm... a T. rex?" Kenji guessed, though his voice lacked conviction.
"I don't think so," Darius corrected, his internal encyclopedia already ruling out the park's star attraction.
Yasmina was the first to react, rushing to the balcony and leaning over the railing to scan the distant treeline.
…
Hiss…
Owen lay flat beneath the chassis of a crane, having just sliced a fuel line to drench himself in gasoline. He took a long, shaky breath and held it.
Rumble...
A low, guttural vibration sounded inches from his ear. Rows of jagged, irregular teeth were set into a massive, pale jaw.
"KREE-ROAR—!"
A piercing shriek erupted, threatening to shatter Owen's eardrums. He tilted his head away, eyes squeezed shut, straining every muscle to remain motionless and silent.
The white phantom leaning against the vehicle seemed to lose interest. It straightened its posture and stalked away. Only when the heavy footsteps faded into silence did Owen allow himself to gasp for air.
"Hah... hah..."
…
Meanwhile, Claire Dearing arrived back at the Main Control Room.
Ding!
The elevator doors slid open. The sharp, rhythmic click of high heels on marble drew every eye in the room. She scanned the staff, took a silent breath to steady her nerves, and spoke with forced composure.
"Everyone... stay... calm."
She spoke slowly, enunciating every word to hide the tremor in her voice. Two people were already dead.
Claire looked up at the tracking monitors, exhaled again, and stepped forward to take command. The vast control room seemed to find its axis; everyone returned to their stations. Lowery tracked the signal, Vivian began the comms...
"Hang up that damn phone, please."
Suddenly, a new voice cut through the room, causing the staff to freeze once more. It was a voice they knew all too well: Simon Masrani.
"Apologies, sir. I'm receiving an update. Everything is under control," Vivian said, pivoting her tone before hanging up.
Masrani stepped into Claire's space, addressing the room. "Send the ACU to get her."
"The existence of this park is predicated on our ability to handle these incidents. This was always a possibility, wasn't it?" He sounded confident, yet he seemed to overlook the immediate danger to the guests. Even Lowery, usually content to slack off, couldn't stomach the nonchalance. He shot back with a rare flash of steel.
"You should put that in the brochure: 'Eventually, one of these things will eat somebody.'"
Claire ignored the bickering, her eyes locked on the primary display. "The nearest attraction is four miles away. ACU can handle this before anyone else gets—"
"No, no. That's not right," Lowery interrupted, his fingers flying across the keys. He looked frantic. "She's turned. Based on the trajectory, she's heading southwest, straight for the Primeval Ecological Zone. ACU won't make it in time."
Claire's mouth hung open slightly, her composure finally breaking.
"Alert the monitors! We need access to every camera in the sector. Double the ACU deployment; it's about to get a lot more dangerous in there."
…
"Zach, did you know that the Giganotosaurus skeleton is actually a reconstruction? There are two versions: the long-skulled and the short-skulled."
"But the Giga here in Jurassic World proved the long-skulled version was right. Still, some people insist on the short-skulled version because—"
"Zip it."
At the Gyrosphere Valley, Gray leaned against the railing, pouring his prehistoric knowledge into his brother's ear. But Zach was far more interested in a group of girls nearby, his gaze lingering with teenage intensity.
Gray, already burdened by the news of their parents' impending divorce, felt a pang of hurt at being shut down. He followed Zach's gaze to the girls boarding their spheres.
"What's staring at them going to do?"
Zach snapped out of it, perhaps thinking of his own girlfriend back home. His eyes cleared. "Thanks, kid."
"Don't mention it."
The next gyrosphere rolled into place. Zach and Gray boarded in sequence.
"Enjoy the ride," the operator droned. He was counting; this was the 372nd time he'd said that today.
Ring, ring…
The phone rang, but the boys were already rolling out onto the plains.
"There! Go that way!" Gray pointed eagerly toward the distant fence, the boundary between the Gyrosphere Valley and the Primeval Ecological Zone.
"Hold your horses," Zach said. Having just witnessed the Mosasaurus feeding, he wasn't quite as manic as his brother, but he was still curious about the legendary "Asset 3." He'd heard his classmates drone on about it until his ears grew calloused.
Minutes later, they had rolled past the Giganotosaurus territory, yet they had seen nothing. Even worse, the attraction was closing; the spheres were being recalled.
"Aww..." Gray slumped. The trip felt like a bust; they'd barely seen any dinosaurs.
"It's fine. We can stay out a little longer," Zach said, trying to soften the blow for his brother.
"But they said it's closing."
"Hey, we're VIPs, remember? A few extra minutes won't hurt anyone." Zach suddenly spotted something. He slowed the sphere and turned it toward the fence of the Primeval Ecological Zone.
"Look what we have here."
———————
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