28. At Least...

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Isla Sorna

[Y/N POV]

We leave the darkness, night, and storm behind us, crossing the cave to the other side.

When we reach the other side, a bright light greets our tired eyes. Ben shields his eyes with his hand, by my side, and I do the same

Once my sight adjusts, I take in the desert basking in the morning light in front of me.

"...definitely not Costa Rica." Caleb frowns deeply in confusion

Brooklyn skids down some rocks. "It looks more like... Australia?"

"No way we went that far though... right?" Darius hesitates

Kenji slaps a hand on the side of Darius' head.

"Kenji? What are you doing?" Darius asks, slightly muffled.

"Making sure we're not dead. Cause if we're dead, we'd be ghosts, and if we're ghosts, I'd be able to, like... Ooh go through you."

"We're not dead!" Darius swats Kenji away.

"Well, now you know. You're welcome."

"So we know where we aren't. Any idea where we are?" Brooklyn sighs.

"Nope. Just that we're stranded. And alone. Again." Yaz huffs, discouraged.

"We just gotta asses the situation." Darius says in a hopeful tone

Ben squints. "Hey, hey guys! Loot at that! Over there in the distance! Something shiny!"

"I see it! It looks like the sun is glinting off some sort of metal thingy?"

"Something metal could mean someone had to make it. We gotta check it out," Ben says.

"Hang on!" Kenji intervenes. "You wanna go walking across a blazing hot desert just because you saw something shiny!?"

"We have no idea what's out there." Darius shrugs

Ben climbs up a rock and towers over us with his hands on his hips.
"Oh my sweet frightened children.
So we're not in 'Costa Rica'.
And we don't know 'where we are'.
And we have 'no hope'.
We didn't know how we were gonna survive on Nublar, and yet, we did.
By sheer will, determination, and teamwork.
There aren't even dinosaurs here.
So logically, this should be easier.
So let's go out there and, you know, survive!"

Yaz sighs and walks away. "Why not."

"We can at least try." Brooklyn slides down a sand dune and the others follow her

Ben sighs and hops down from the rock disappointed. I give him a pat on the shoulder. "Good speech, Ben."

He smiles at me sadly. I intertwine my fingers with his and pull him along with me to the others.

•·•

The yellow sand scrunches up under my faded sneakers, and I kick it in boredom.

"This place is weird. It's like another planet or something." Kenji states. "Or maybe we were abducted by aliens!"

Brooklyn laughs and hits him lightly on the chest. "Because that would make perfect sense."

"No, that... that... No, that'd be dumb. It's dumb. Never mind. What? No, you shut up." Kenji stammers.

I slow my pace to walk beside him. "You feeling okay? Usually you don't fumble."

He nudges me, hard, and says in a low tone, "I'm fine. I'm just..."

"Just...?" I ask in an almost-whisper.

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