Zephyr | Camp Cretaceous

Secrets

[Genetics lab]

'Not long now,' Yasmina thought, hopping in the back of the truck with Brooklynn, Ben, and Sammy, giving a slight smile as she forced herself to ignore the stench of the giant pile of dinosaur poo that Kenji and the Dino-nerd had to clean up as punishment for sneaking out and nearly getting eaten by the raptors. Luckily for them, Dave and Roxie saved them before that could happen—also, fortunately for them, Zephyr wasn't there to shove them back into the raptor pen for being imbeciles.

As they drove towards the genetics lab, Brooklynn pulled out her phone and glanced at Yasmina. "So, who did you have to so urgently call last night?" There was a note of teasing in her voice.

"A friend," Yaz said, more sternly than she intended. Brooklynn and Sammy didn't look convinced. Trying to change the subject, Yasmina glanced at the pink-haired girl's phone and asked, "How's your video doing?"

Seemingly realising what she was taking her phone out for in the first place, Brooklynn hurriedly checked on her vlog. A happy gleam appeared in her eyes. "I'm gaining followers," she said excitedly. "'Dino-rider is my new favourite person.' Ha, same here, dude." Brooklynn grinned and sat back down, reading comments silently, her apparent happiness growing with each one.

'Even when she's not around,' Yaz thought, her lips curled in a small smile, 'she's making people happy.' The blond girl she'd met by chance when her cousin forced her into an online chatroom was always like that, an incredible girl who just wanted to make people happy.

"So, what's your next video?" Sammy asked, seemingly happy because someone else was happy. Yasmina had a feeling it wouldn't only be Darius who got on with Zephyr. "Ooh, maybe there's baby dino eggs in the lab. Everyone loves a baby video."

"Whatever it is," Brooklynn said, lowering her phone, "I hope it'll be as cool as the last one." The two began talking about something that Yaz could hardly keep up with, but it didn't matter—her attention was on Ben as the blue-eyed kid hummed and lathered himself in sanitiser. She stared at him, incredulous.

He noticed her gaze and explained, "Sanitiser. Who knows what kind of creepy dino goo is at that lab? I've gotta be ready for anything." Just then, Ben squirted more sanitiser onto his leg. "The world is a grab-bag of gross, and we're all just along for the moist, sticky roller coaster ride called life."

Yasmina blinked at him... then snatched the sanitiser and applied it on her hands and face as Ben hummed.

Almost thirty minutes later, they arrived at the genetics lab. It was a concrete and granite building with no windows except for two thin lines of blueish-green glass panes that Yaz was sure were only there to add a little character. Once inside, Brooklynn started recording her newest video as Yasmina, Ben, and Sammy looked around. "What's up, Brooklanders! I'm coming from one of Jurassic World's coolest remote genetics labs!" Yaz had to admit that the facility was excellent, with marble floors, walls, and state-of-the-art tech.

"It's so shiny in here!" Sammy gasped.

In the centre was a large round pillar with chunks of amber on brightly lit shelves, some of which had ancient mosquitos frozen inside. Another corner had robotic arms moving eggs from one "nest" to another while men and women in lab coats assessed tablets, computers, and older files around the rest of the lab.

"This is a rare window into the park's inner workings," Roxie told Brooklynn. "Not just anyone can come in here, you know."

"Yup," Dave added, "this is where the magic happens." Just then, he noticed someone and called, "Doc Wu-Wu! Guess who's ready to have a blastocyst from the pastocyst? The mitosis with the mosisis!" The guy was tall, had black hair with only a few strands of grey, and wore a turtleneck under his lab coat. He shot a disdainful look at Dave. "We're ready for some chromosomes, my bro-mosome. Wu, there it is!" Wu walked away, with Roxie following after him. "I can do more."