Chapter Text
Wet.
Something wet was on his cheek.
Oh gosh, everything hurt! His lower back felt like someone had stabbed it with a corkscrew.
He flexed his toes and could feel his shoes stretch a bit over them. At least he had that going for him.
He heard a grunt and opened his eyes, seeing a blurry shape. One asymmetrical.
“Bumpy?” He rasped.
He blinked and gasped.
She was much bigger!
Bumpy had to be at least four feet tall, with ridges on her back and a longer tail. She shuffled her feet excitedly as he smiled in relief at seeing his friend. She grunted and nuzzled his shoulder, almost crooning.
“I’m okay…” He said, trying to sit up and wincing. “Scratch that. My tailbone is not…”
She turned and laid her tail next to him and he reached out to touch it, noting the heavy club it now sported. She gently lifted it, then lowered it again. She did it a few times and grunted, and he suddenly understood what she wanted.
He grabbed it and hissed as he was pulled up to his feet, body trembling with pain and fatigue.
“Thanks girl. Man, I could really go for some…” He patted his waist and gasped. “My pack! My…”
He looked up and saw the monorail, silent and empty. He gasped as he remembered what had happened, Darius clinging to his hand as Brooklynn and Kenji stood frozen with shock behind him. The fear gripped him again and he started to hyperventilate.
“They left me.” He said softly.
Bumpy barked, as if trying to tell him something.
He looked at her and she walked in a circle, barking again.
“Th-they probably went for help.” He said, trying to push down his anger and despair. “Darius would never leave one of us behind—”
He heard a faint roar in the distance.
“The T-Rex.” He whispered and Bumpy nudged him, knocking him halfway on her shell, her small spikes still round enough for him to lay on top of as she walked off, following the monorail.
“What? Where are you…”He moaned as his eye lids felt heavy again.
Ben groaned after a few feet, and she laid down, nudging him until he fully laid on top of her, clutching her shell as he tried desperately not to pass out, failing.
When he woke up, they were on a concrete path.
“Bumpy? Where are you taking us, Girl?” He asked.
He saw a building coming up and smiled, laughing excitedly.
“The hotel?!”
Bumpy grunted and walked up the wheelchair ramp.
Ben got down and pushed at the automatic door, groaning when it wouldn’t budge. He tried to pry them open, arms shaking with strain.
Bumpy suddenly swung her tail and shattered a bottom panel of the thick plastic, causing him to shout. Ben chuckled and crawled through the new entrance, unlocking a swinging door for his friend to squeeze in and follow him.
He found an abandoned umbrella, long and missing a few spokes, and used it as a walking stick to get to the front desk, finding the security office behind it. Finding a key next to the computer, he opened the door to see all the cameras still operational.
“Maybe this place has a generator or something.” He said, and spied a sink in the corner, grabbing his dry throat.
He limped to it and turned it on, not caring when he leaned over and drank from the tap. It had that flat iron like taste, but other wise was clean. He gasped after drinking his fill.
“Plumbing…works…” He panted and went to look at the cameras.
They viewed the hallways, the daycare, the spa and fitness center, even the pool. All were empty with the windows covered.
He laughed happily. “No dinos. Not even a compy squeezed in!”
He turned to the open door and grinned at Bumpy. “It’s all ours til the others come back!”
He found a map of the hotel.
“What would Darius do?” He asked, going back outside to the front desk and seeing a button that said; “Emergency only.”
He pressed it, and metal shutters fell over the front windows and door. Bumpy screeched in alarm and he pet her head, making her groan and stomp her foot.
“It’s okay girl.” He said and looked at a switch board for the lights, shivering when he remembered the monorail. He took a deep breath. He needed to secure the area.
“We got some work to do.” He said, grabbing a universal key card and a ring of keys, limping towards the kitchen.
They had found some fruit that had yet to go bad and several crates of water, all he moved to the front of the dining area so he could get to it easier if his hips kept bothering him.
He then used a few backpacks from the gift shop to load up all the snacks at the register along with more water and a few changes of clothes down to underwear and new shoes. Bumpy didn’t seem bothered when he loaded them on her back for her to take back to where they would camp out.
He picked a large room on the ground floor and propped the double doors open so Bumpy could go in and out. He shut all the windows and curtains on the first three floors, quieting anything that would draw attention, making sure to unplug TVs, alarms and radios except for in his room. Going as far as to turn off the automatic indoor and outdoor lights and signposts from the security desk, masking the hotel in darkness.
After hours of shutting down as much as the hotel as he could, his body gave out and he collapsed on the bed. He still had eight floors to go!
His hips were screaming in pain and he took a generic pain killer with his dinner of fresh fruit, bread from the buffet area and beef jerky. He promised himself he would search the kitchen again before things went bad.
He took a deep breath after and nearly gagged at his own body odor. He panted and got up, going to the bathroom and gasping at what he saw in the mirror.
His eyes looked sunken in, bruises all over his arms and legs. He saw his shirt torn in the back, lifting it to see the claw marks where the Pteranodon had grabbed him, deep purple bruising all over his side and his hip where he had landed.
He took a shuttering breath and hiccupped before the tears started and he couldn’t hold back his sobs.
He could have died.
He could have actually died and never seen his mom again.
He sat on the toilet lid and took gasping breaths and rubbed his arms to try and calm himself before turning on the shower and undressing to clean his injuries. Finding a first aid kit, he sobbed more as he started to clean his wounds, trying to take deep breaths to clam his panic. Bumpy laid down outside the bathroom door, as if keeping watch.
He smiled softly and got in the shower, humming as the hot water hit his body. He looked over the mini shampoos and conditioners on a recessed shelf in the stone tile wall. He grabbed a rag and lathered up the soap, planning to scrub away the grime and blood and bad memories.
He woke up in the still warm bath, the eucalyptus scent from some essential oils he found a little weaker. He groaned and got up, happy that the sharp pain in his hips had dulled to a manageable throb.
He dried his hair and wrapped himself in the white robe with the T-Rex emblem on the left side of his chest.
Bumpy groaned softly as he laid himself more gingerly on the bed, hugging a pillow and remembering for a moment ‘How is your grip this strong?!’
He smiled to himself, remembering the scent of the campfire, Darius groaning, Brooklynn and Sammy looking over her pictures and Yaz standing in the back next to the railing. His hands locked on Kenji’s bicep as he pulled hard, a surprised look on his face.
He always gravitated to Kenji.
Of course he did.
Kenji was strong.
Kenji was brave.
Kenji was confident.
And he was none of those things.
But there was something he noticed he and Kenji had in common.
Kenji was lonely.
And every time he clung to him, Kenji would push once and then allow him to stay. As if he wanted him to stay. Ben blushed and covered his mouth.
He hoped he was okay. He hoped they all were.