Chapter Text
“Wow.”
“Right?”
“How long did this take you guys?” Ben asks.
They stand together as a group, paused, just inside the clearing that borders the camp. Ben stares wide eyed at the makeshift tree house. One hand on Bumpy, the other hooked on his fanny pack in an almost protective demeanor.
“Well,” Darius has to think a moment before replying, “we’ve been working on it bit by bit the whole time. Kept coming up with new ideas to add. But it took a week to get the main structure feeling sturdy enough to actually feel safe being up there.”
“This is really cool. I don’t know what I expected when you guys talked about ‘going back to camp’. But it certainly wasn’t this.” He lets out a small laugh and they smile at the contagious sound, the airy noise hitting something tender in all of them. Hearing him speak was one thing, but his laughter just felt particularly alive.
Ben looks up at the structure. Much more impressive than his camp, but it's not like he had any help building his little lean-to. The structure was elevated off the ground, with a main level, and what seemed to be a second smaller loft. Being up high keeps the compies away, plus gives them a good position for looking out for things bigger than a compy. He thinks back to when he would climb the large vine-covered jungle tree near his own camp. Under different circumstances, its view would have been breathtaking. The vantage point had been tall enough to look down at the canopy of the jungle, and he could just barely make out the small grassy area that Toro had claimed as his territory.
He can’t make out the details of the makeshift treehouse from where they stand, the sun is already mostly down, but it's clear the structure is built from the remnants of their original camp. They had a lot of debris to work with, and much of it looks mismatched. His eyes linger on the rickety looking slide that curves down.
Kenji throws an arm over his shoulder, following his gaze. Tone cool as ever, he puffs out his chest with pride. “The slide was my idea.”
Ben nods quickly, as if it makes the most sense in the world. “Good for a quick escape, should the need arise.”
“Also good for… sliding.” The taller teen runs forward, and in a flamboyant act of demonstration, he vaults up the ladder more agile than Ben imagined he would be able to move. Then quickly, sitting himself down with his arms up in the air, he slides. A thumping sound rhythmically drums out as his butt hits each section where the pieces don’t quite line up flat.
“Wee-eee-ee!”
There is laughter from the whole group. It's a tired amusement, but also amusement that comes from bone deep relief. Things may not have gone the way they wanted, but for now, they’re all okay.
“Wow, City Boy. Thanks for the demo. How could I have forgotten how slides work?” Ben teases once the giggling subsides.
Bumpy grumbles. She’s clearly exhausted from the day and not as amused at the oldest teen’s antics. The sky is all pink hues, with wisps of clouds dotted around. It will be night soon.
Once the mirth from Kenji’s playfulness wears off, and the pride they feel from Ben's general awe of their camp, everyone can agree with the dino. It’s time for rest. It’s been a long 48 hours for everyone.
There is a momentary silence that is just enough for weariness to make itself known in them all. They continue forward and start to crowd around the only ladder to climb up, moving more slowly now than compared to the urgency they felt earlier while trekking through the jungle. Bumpy finds a nice spot among the foliage under the tree house to call her bed. Ben instinctively begins to follow her before pausing and looking up to where the others climb. Right, well, he can’t bring the several ton large dinosaur up there.
“G’night, Bumps,” he says softly, giving her beak one last pat before bringing up the rear and climbing just behind Sammy. It does feel stable at least; the ladder only slightly jiggles as they climb.
When he reaches the top, he’s surprised when Sammy holds out her hand to help him stand. The others talk, each with the intent to tour him through the space. Not paying attention to anyone in particular, he wanders the first level. The structure doesn’t move under their weight like he expected, but there are sections where he can look through and see the ground.
Eventually, he notices a chalkboard with tally marks. He never bothered to count the days when he was on his own. Going over to the board, he lightly traces his fingers over markings, smudging stark lines and leaving small trails from his fingertips.
Five, ten, fifteen, twenty… he starts to count. The hairs on the back of his neck rise and he notices silence behind him.
It’s too quiet.
He quickly turns on his heel, raising his hands defensively. The others jolt from his sudden movement and try to ‘act natural’ as if they weren’t just watching him. Kenji leans against one of the wooden beams whistling and looking at what must be a particularly interesting leaf. Sammy, Yaz, and Brooklynn don’t make eye contact with him, instead beginning to busy themselves by getting things together to start a fire for the night. Darius coughs into a fist awkwardly and looks down at Ben’s feet.
“What? Do I have something on me?” Ben brushes at his shirt. Nothing but the normal dried on mud flakes. Somewhere in the back of his mind Old Ben grimaces as it falls off of him and makes a note to help clean the floor later.
“No, no, it's not that.” Darius starts glancing around quickly before his eyes land on one of the bunks, “We just… uhhh, there’s only five beds.”
“Oh,” Ben looks around, making note of the various sleeping areas. “That's fine. Felt weird saying goodnight to Bumpy anyways. I can sleep down there with her.”
“What?” Several voices exclaim, then begin to speak over each other.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Yaz and I can share, and you can have one of our beds.”
“Not safe-”
Ben frowns and eyes them each individually. The others quiet down, seeing his blatantly annoyed expression.
“You know I can take care of myself right? Plus, Bumpy is down there-“
“No Ben, no. Please. For our sake, at least for tonight, sleep up here, then we’ll figure out a more comfortable solution tomorrow, okay?” Darius rests a hand on his shoulder, face twisted with worry. Something about the expression unsettles Ben, but the displeasure from their reaction melts away, instead leaving him feeling hollow.
He looks down where Darius’s hand connects with his bare skin, then lifts his gaze to meet the other’s dark eyes. He looks so tired, Ben thinks, and after a moment, he nods a quiet acceptance. The others let out a collective sigh of relief.
“Didn’t realize you’d all feel so strongly about it.” He admits. “You do realize-“ he stops the thought and just shakes his head. They don’t ask what he was going to say.
When they start to get ready for bed, Ben is glad no one brings up dinner. He’s sure it would sink like a rock in his stomach.
Kenji takes first watch. Perched on a seat near the slide, he sits near the same small fire pit the girls had been fussing over earlier. He periodically pokes it to keep it going. The ring is made of metal and brick left over from the original destroyed camp. They keep the flames low, nearly just embers. Ben isn’t sure why they bother with it at all if they aren’t cooking. But he keeps his confusion to himself.
After a short shuffling of people around, Ben lays in what was Yaz’s bunk. And soon the area is filled with the sounds of deep slumbering breaths.
He closes his eyes and focuses on the sounds of the jungle. Dinosaurs roar in the distance. Cicadas screech and buzz. It's not that he doesn’t trust Kenji to keep watch. It's just going to take some getting used to. His body doesn’t know someone else is watching the night for him yet.
The occasional popping from the burning wood is at least a comforting sound.
…
The next morning, he is awake before the sun rises. He always was a morning person, often already up and out of bed hours before his mother was. He remembers how she would ask for him to make her coffee, and he knew just the right amount of vanilla bean creamer to splash in for her. Then he would make himself tea, read, and wait for the day to start.
This is a different kind of morning wakefulness though. He was awake most of the night, which is nothing unusual. His sleep schedule over the last month had turned into something much more of a segmented process. One bout of sleep at dusk, and once again at dawn. Sometimes with a third, more nap-like sleep somewhere in the middle.
Through the night he listened to the various sounds around the camp. He heard when Kenji woke Brooklynn so they could switch shifts to keep the watch going. He heard every rustle of leaves by the edge of camp. Every roar in the distance. Before Kenji went to his own bunk, Ben could hear how the footsteps hesitated nearby, how the boy sighed to himself and mumbled under his breath something Ben couldn’t make out. His suspicion tells him it had something to do with him though.
His late night ruminations consisted of a familiar anxiety laden internal voice. This isn’t how he imagined reuniting with the others would feel. Shouldn’t he feel good ?
You’re a bad person. You should be thankful.
He watches the stars through the leaves of the large tree. He often finds himself looking up nowadays. The pteranodons usually didn’t fly at night, at least not where his camp was. So far, it seems like they don’t here either. Guess he just got unlucky that first night on the monorail.
The sky begins to lighten and it makes the stars dim until they twinkle out one by one.
There is a heavy lump of dread in his chest that slowly makes its way to his stomach. Almost feeling like nausea. Now that they aren't running for their lives, or dealing with the poachers, they all finally have time to properly catch up.
There will be questions, he expects. He has questions too.
It's not that he doesn’t want to be around them. He does, really. He just isn’t ready to lay himself bare to them just yet; isn’t ready for that easy intimacy that he can see they have with each other.
Something about it feels wrong.
An annoying yet familiar voice in the back of his mind tells him none of this is real. He is still in the jungle alone, crazy, and imagining his friends are here. Or maybe he isn’t on an island at all and he’s locked up in a mental facility, he just thinks this is reality.
The thoughts spiral and he taps the thick bark that makes the wooden bracer on his arm. It’s a futile effort to dispel them, he knows, but he also knows that sometimes it works.
Tap tap tap. Tap tap tap. Tap tap.
The noise draws Brooklynn’s gaze, and he feels her eyes on his skin before he looks over to her. Might as well get up , he thinks before pulling himself upright. He waves a good morning greeting and yawns. Once he’s standing properly, he rolls his shoulders, sighing as one of them makes a popping sound.
Ignoring the pit of anxiety in his stomach, he walks over to her.
“You’re awake early.” She notes, voice quiet as to not wake the others. Ben smiles and shrugs. It is odd, he thinks, to see her natural hair growing out and the once vibrant pink now faded to a dull shade.
“Ready to face the day.” Cool assured confidence in his tone.
He leans against the railing beside where she sits and looks out into the jungle, gaze sharp. In his peripheral he can see her worrying her lip between her teeth. Low morning fog drifts over the water of the small nearby creek. Bumpy groans from somewhere beneath them and he looks down between the floorboards. Seems she is already awake too.
Ben looks to the slide, gives Brooklynn a slightly unhinged grin and copies Kenji’s antics from the night before, swiftly sailing down it with his arms in the air. Ouch, ouch, ouch. They’re going to need to fix the bumps. He rubs his butt and he can hear her giggle from above him. He throws her a double thumbs up. Whatever she had on her mind seems to have eased. He’s glad. He doesn’t want them to worry about him.
“The slide was an excellent idea but those bumps- oof!” Bumpy interrupts him by pushing him off the end of the slide and onto the ground, licking his face. He groans and crawls out from under her large asymmetrical head. Brooklynn’s giggles have turned into full on laughter.
He continues to lay on his back, looking up at the clear sky. Bumpy ceases her gooey assault and instead lays her heavy head on his stomach and he groans. “Bumpyyy stop, you’re not little anymore.” He pushes noncommittally at her, she doesn’t budge. He flops and gives up, she grumbles a clearly content noise, happy with her new pillow. Ben glances up towards Brooklynn with a sheepish expression. “Usually she listens better. Guess she missed me last night.”
The figure of Darius joins her at the banister, rubbing at his eyes. His expression is fond, but the bags under his eyes indicate a similar lack of sleep. “Morning,” He greets, and despite the worn out body language his tone is upbeat.
Ben and Brooklyn chime their greetings. Even Bumpy makes a chipper that sounds like a ‘good morning.’ Groans can be heard from the others as they begin to wake from the ruckus. The first rays of sun begin to cast down through the trees.
With more motivation this time, Ben shuffles out from under Bumpy with a huff. The dino allows him to, but grumbles for payment. He pulls out some slightly squashed berries to feed her and once again feels eyes on him. Brooklynn has gone to wake the others, but Darius stands at the railing, hands gripped tightly around the wood. Ben tilts his head in question.
“You ok, Darius?”
“Oh.” The boy releases his grip and nods. “Yeah, still just waking up.” Ben shrugs. If he doesn’t want to talk about it, he doesn’t have to. “Come back up here though, Ben. We need to start planning what to do next.”
“Sure thing.” Ben gives Bumpy’s shorter head spike a loving rub and heads back up the ladder. With everyone now up, they sit together at the central most table. Sammy is still practically asleep and only upright due to being propped up by the much more alert Yaz. Kenji’s eyes drift closed before flying open when Ben sits beside him.
“Hi, sleepy heads.” Ben says. His tone is energetic, light, and if they were awake enough to notice, fake.
I can do this. This is fine. They’re your friends. Just act fine, everything is good and all we have to do is talk.
They stare at him. He sweats. The incessant buzzing that is a constant feature of the jungle feels particularly loud in his ears.
“Stop… doing that. The staring. It’s unnerving.”
“Sorry Ben, it’s just…” Sammy starts before yawn interrupts her sentence.
“It really is like seeing a ghost.” Kenji finishes. Ben nods and looks at them.
“Look, I get it guys, really. I do.” he lets out a breath and deflates. There is another beat where no one says anything. And before anyone else can, he fills the silence. “Can we maybe have this conversation later? After we all wake up a bit more at least? I’m just…” he gestures vaguely. “Overwhelmed. To be completely honest. And I can tell you all have a lot to say, I’m just not ready for that.”
“We finally get you back and you want to just ‘have this conversation later’?” Kenji says, fully awake now, Ben’s words making him frown. He opens his mouth to continue his thought but Darius puts a hand on his shoulder and interrupts.
“It's ok, Ben. That’s fine. We can talk later. We understand if you need some space. Right guys ?” The others murmur affirmations. And Ben relaxes.
“Thanks. Honestly, it’s weird for me too. I’m really happy to see you guys. But also, you- I thought. I thought you guys made it. Genuinely. One of the first things I thought when I realized it was the next day and I was alone was, ‘oh they’re long gone with the ferry by now.’ And sometimes, later, I would sometimes think oh, ‘I bet Darius is playing a video game right now. Yaz is probably training.’ Or, ‘I wonder if Brooklyn ever mentioned me in a video when she got back.’” He starts babbling, blinking quickly. He taps his fingers against the table. The nauseous feeling returns and he has to breathe for a moment. Eventually he gets out. “I was happy for you guys.”
He looks up from his hands to see Sammy tearing up. He has to look away. A warm hand covers his. Darius, he realizes.
He spares a short glance, and in that moment when they make eye contact immediately he finds himself enveloped in an odd half hug that’s partially blocked by the table, surprised, he pulls away to back himself out of it. Darius allows him to easily.
“I’m fine. Overwhelmed. But fine.” His gaze traces over each of them.
Darius saves him from having to say any more and diverts to a new subject. “We should talk about what our plans are from here anyways. No more waiting around to be saved. We’re going to save ourselves and get out of here, and to do that we need a plan.”
There is light cheering from the group, Ben feels an emotional whiplash and sits back in his chair, he already had his plan. Just never had the opportunity to set it into motion.
“As you guys know, I read and memorized the evacuation plans on the ferry ride here.” He starts slowly, they eye him with interest. “But there is a beacon on Main Street-“
“Already activated it.” Yaz interjects.
“Yeah in the first week actually. It said the signal went out but…”
“So far nothing. Maybe it malfunctioned or whoever got it doesn’t care. But that’s a dead end.”
“Oh.”
“Besides, the T-Rex is on Main Street so we’ve been avoiding going there except when we really really need supplies.”
Ben looks around. Noting items that had clearly been taken from the various shops. Towels with dinosaur patterns. The chalk used for tallying the days was shaped like a stegosaurus. Two large five gallon water jugs. And of course the green dinosaur shaped walkie-talkies that came to be useful.
“Ok, so, no beacon…” it feels like a sharp stab in his chest. The one thing, the one goal he really had that drove him to get past Toro. Didn’t even matter.
“But we’re not waiting around anyways, right? Active ideas.”
With the tally marks sequestered to one side of the chalkboard, Darius stands beside it making a bullet point list. Ben absently notes that someone already added a new dash to indicate the new day.
As they talk, some ideas hold more weight than others. Some are closer to jokes than actual ideas. Darius doesn’t bother to write down Kenji’s Human Catapult idea, and instead moves on. They briefly go over the idea of the kayaks and where else on the island they could potentially find a working phone. Yaz mentions finding the helicopter storage center and teaching themselves how to operate them. That one receives some raised eyebrows. But it is written down nonetheless.
Morning fully rolls along. Kenji interjects with several progressively more whiny comments about having breakfast as they bounce ideas back and forth. Eventually caving, Sammy pulls out cans from their makeshift kitchen cabinets and begins to work on opening them. There is a small pop as she breaks the seal on one of them. Ben’s eyes flick over to her, he immediately can smell the sickening sweet scent of the syrup drenched peaches. The cloying odor coats the roof of his mouth and his tongue.
He begins to salivate while his stomach revolts.
Darius is in the middle of a sentence about the gyrosphere’s potential to tread water when Ben stands, rushes over to the rail, leans over the edge of the tree house where he begins to dry heave. Nothing comes out, of course. He hasn’t eaten since the morning before, and even then it was a lackluster handful of berries.
The others make a commotion behind him. He ignores them, instead focusing his attention on breathing the fresh air. Bumpy shifts and looks up at him. He waves to her indicating he’s fine. She lays back down with a thump.
Someone grabs his shoulder when it’s clear he’s done gagging. He doesn’t turn around, and instead holds on to the wooden railing to keep his position, as if expecting to be pulled away. Instead, whoever it is rubs his back gently.
“Sorry- the peaches. The scent just got to me, I guess.”
“Oh no Ben, I’m so sorry!” Sammy cries out. He can hear her set the can down, but the reminder of the offending item has his stomach rolling again. He releases a slow, controlled breath.
He doesn’t turn to look at her and speaks out to the jungle. “It’s not your fault, Sammy. I didn’t realize I’d have that reaction either. I don’t remember canned fruit smelling so… strong.” There is silence, and he can hear one of them sniff the air experimentally. “I think it was more of a surprise than anything.”
Taking another deep breath, he turns to see that it’s Kenji who continues to hold his shoulder, though he stops the back rubbing motion. Concern is plain in his expression. “You good now?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m just going to,” he jabs his thumb in the direction of the slide, “take a moment.”
“Take whatever time you need. I think it’s about time for a break from all this ‘coming up with ideas’ anyways.” Kenji pats his shoulder and steps back. Ben nods.
With his stomach still unsettled, instead of choosing the slide, he climbs down the ladder. He eyes the edge of the clearing for a while before making his way over to the creek, satisfied with the lack of dinosaur noises.
His instincts haven’t failed him yet, and right now they’re telling him it is safe to proceed.
He kneels by the water. With the sun higher in the sky, the fog from earlier has dissipated. He takes off his dirty blue headband and soaks it in the cool water, then wipes his face off with it. As the dirt and grim washes away, he feels along his temple and brow, the skin there is rough and raised. He hasn’t looked in a mirror since the morning everything went sideways. He imagines the scar is still pink though, it hasn’t been that long in the grand scheme of things. He just had to change quickly, in a lot of different ways, if he didn’t he'd be dead. He must look feral, he realizes. He shakes the thoughts away and continues to wash his face and neck.
The combination of the cool water on his skin and feeling the earth against his knees helps him feel more solid. Putting his makeshift bandanna back on, he presses his hands into the soft crumbling dirt and closes his eyes. He decides, as cool as the tree house is, nothing beats being on the ground.
The air smells like moss, dirt, and slightly of mold. A consequence of the high humidity, he rationalizes. He hated it when they first arrived. Felt dirty . Most of the island has a similar scent too, barring the tourist areas, which instead somehow smell sharp. Back when it was still populated, it would have a constant buttery popcorn scent, as well as sugar. Probably from cotton candy, or some other fair type food. Ben imagines those particular scents have long since left the area, probably smelling rotten now. Not like he’s had the chance to go back to confirm his suspicion though.
Footsteps make their way toward him after several long minutes. He straightens his posture and opens his eyes again before turning to greet them.
It's Darius and Kenji who walk up to him.
“Feeling better?” Darius asks when they get close enough, his eyes dart over Ben’s now freshly cleaned face, searchingly. Ben wonders what he’s looking for. He nods and stands to get at eye level with them.
“Yeah, much. Sorry about that, um, kind of embarrassing really.”
“You don’t have to be embarrassed.” Kenji tries to reassure him.
“Well, I am. I’m embarrassed. When we first met I was puking back then too.” Ben feels his face get hot and he looks away rubbing at his eyes. The other boys are quiet until he looks back at them. “So much for second impressions I guess.”
“Oh, you’ve definitely made a second impression. You’re like a whole different person actually.” Kenji states. Darius elbows him in the ribs.
“Um, if you’re feeling better we have something that might distract you from feeling embarrassed.” Kenji shoots a confused look at Darius for a second before his expression lights up.
“Oh yeah, we definitely have stuff you’ll find exciting.”
Ben looks at them, expression wary, but clearly curious. “Does it involve explosives, or fire?”
“Uhhh no… just come on!”
Kenji grabs his hand and pulls Ben back toward the tree house. They go straight past the main area with the chalkboard, Sammy saying apologies as they pass. Ben once again fleetingly assures her, it's not her fault. He notes that the cans of peaches have disappeared. Then they go on to the second level.
Nestled into a well protected corner, is a neat pile of books. Ben’s eyes widen and he looks back and forth between the other two boys as they flank him.
“Are those…?”
“Oh yeah. Turns out, when you’re not running from dinosaurs things can get pretty boring. Your books have been really useful.” Kenji says.
“When we were looking for supplies to build the shelter, we found some of our bags… yours included.”
Ben has a small smile and walks over to the stack. “Wow. I would have thought they’d be too damaged or lost.”
“Some of them do have water damage, but there are so many of them- actually on that note, really? Half of your suitcase was books.”
Ben rubs the back of his neck. “I timed it out. I knew if I didn’t want to be rereading any of them, I had to at minimum bring a book a week, but more likely two books a week since I wasn’t exactly planning on participating in many activities. Not like I ended up getting a choice in that regard though.” He seems more thoughtful than anything, humming a low note in his throat and flipping through the pages of the first random one he grabs.
As he’s distracted, Kenji looks down to the lower level and the three girls are watching the encounter with interest. He gives them a thumbs up.
“You know, it’s kind of flattering really, that you guys have been reading them.”
“Some of us more than others.” Brooklynn calls out. Collectively the girls look at Kenji and Darius, then they laugh. Ben smiles.
“Darius, I’m not surprised. But Kenji, I didn’t exactly take you as much of a reader.”
The older teen flushes. “Like I said, it gets boring when we aren’t running for our lives.”
Ben nods. “Books, and well, reading in general is a good distraction from your head. With everything,” He gestures widely, “doesn’t surprise me you picked up the habit. How many have you guys gone through?”
“I’ve read three, halfway through a fourth.” Darius chimes.
“Just finished my third one. It's the most reading I’ve done in years, lemme tell you.”
“I’ve been reading them aloud actually. Fun making it a group story time! Makes it go a lot slower though. I’ve only finished one.” Sammy calls up.
“The Hobbit.” Yaz says, expression fond as she nods. “Sammy does the best voices.”
“I absolutely believe it. Hey, we should have a story time tonight. I have to tell you guys about how I defeated Toro!”
He plops his book back down on the pile without looking at it, placing both hands on his hips and standing up straight with pride. The others ohh and ahhh, excited to hear the story for the first time, not realizing they will soon hear about Toro on at least a daily basis.
Ben smiles, finally getting the impression maybe things will start to feel normal eventually.