Camp Cretaceous, Volume One Read online

  Jurassic World Franchise © 2020 Universal City Studios LLC and Amblin Entertainment, Inc. Series © 2020 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, and in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto. Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  rhcbooks.com

  ISBN 9780593303382 (hardcover) — ebook ISBN 9780593303399

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

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  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Insert

  Poster

  “Aw, crud!”

  Darius Bowman had been playing the new Jurassic World video game for days now, trying to reach the end. And just when he thought he was going to beat the thing once and for all, he was eaten by Velociraptors.

  The twelve-year-old sat in his bedroom, slumped in the seat by his video game, defeated.

  Suddenly: “RAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!”

  “Gah!!!!” Darius shouted, startled by the roar. He whirled around in his seat, only to find his older brother, Brandon, smiling at him.

  “Not cool, Brand,” Darius said grumpily.

  “Aw, c’mon, man,” Brand said, looking at the video game screen. “The dinos get you every time.”

  Darius rolled his eyes, reached over, and picked up the game’s user guide. Brand smiled and threw himself down onto Darius’s bed.

  “Brand, I’m so close! If I can just get around the T. rex, I beat the game and win the—”

  “Trip to Jurassic World. I know. You’ve said it, like, a thousand times,” Brand sighed. “But if straight-up gamers say this thing’s unwinnable, how’s some dino-nerd kid gonna beat it?”

  Darius looked at the manual for a second and shrugged his shoulders. “Great pep talk, bro.”

  “Look, Darius,” Brand began. “I know getting to Jurassic World was your and Dad’s dream. But there’s more to life than just dinosaurs. You never leave your room anymore, bruh. Dad wouldn’t want this.”

  “I hear you,” Darius said quietly. “But…even if winning is dumb and hopeless, I still gotta try.”

  Brand looked at his brother, and his expression softened. “Can ya at least take a break? Maybe work in a shower? You’re smelling pretty funky, man.”

  Darius laughed. He couldn’t stay mad at his brother for long.

  As Brand left the room, Darius turned toward a photo of himself with his dad. He missed him.

  They all did.

  * * *

  “That’s it!” Darius shouted, waking up from a dead sleep. He rummaged through his dinosaur reference books. He had all the important ones, like Dr. Ellie Sattler’s Botany of the Late Cretaceous and Dr. Ian Malcolm’s God Creates Dinosaurs.

  “Attack patterns,” Darius mumbled to himself, searching through the books. “No…vocalizations…pack behavior…no…got it!”

  He was holding Dr. Alan Grant’s book The Lost World of the Dinosaurs in his hands and flipped through it feverishly.

  YES! he thought. This might be it!

  He carried the book over to his computer and put on the VR headset. Then he booted up the game. The screen read RESTART FROM WAYPOINT.

  * * *

  A T. rex with enormous, menacing jaws was coming right for him. Darius’s game avatar rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding the hungry beast.

  “Whereareyouwhereareyou?” Darius mumbled, frantically searching the ground for something he remembered having seen before. “Where are you?”

  And then he saw it—a Raptor skull.

  Darius pressed ACTIVATE RAPTOR SKULL.

  “Please whistle,” Darius whispered.

  Or I’m gonna be dead. For, like, the millionth time.

  At last, a sound came out of the Raptor skull. Not just a sound. A whistle. Some kind of call.

  Two Raptors came running, attracted by the sound. Hissing, they leaped onto the bigger dinosaur, the dangerous sickle-shaped claws on each of their hind feet slashing. The T. rex roared, trying to shake them off.

  It was the break Darius needed! His avatar jumped into a helicopter, and Darius watched as the scene dissolved before his eyes—only to be replaced by the ginormous, imposing gates of Jurassic World itself.

  “Congratulations, player!”

  The voice belonged to Mr. DNA, a cartoon character who acted as a guide in the video game. “I’m Mr. DNA! You’re the first person to ever beat our game. So we wanna reward you—with a trip to Jurassic World’s brand-new, state-of-the-art adventure camp! That’s right! Get ready to join us—at Camp Cretaceous!”

  Darius sat in stunned silence, staring at the screen as the Camp Cretaceous logo flashed. It took a few seconds for his brain to catch up.

  “BRAND-…MOM!!!!!” Darius hollered with uncontrollable excitement.

  * * *

  “Welcome to Isla Nublar, campers!”

  Darius had just stepped off the ferry, his legs only a little rubbery from the wave-tossed ride from the mainland to Isla Nublar. He stood on the dock, hardly hearing the person speaking to the group. He couldn’t believe he was really here! Jurassic World! Dinosaurs! His dad’s dream. His dream! He quickly reached up to rub the Velociraptor tooth necklace his father had given him. Immediately, he felt his dad’s presence when he touched the fossil. He smiled.

  “You are the chosen few, the first kids in the entire world to ever experience the awesomeness that is Camp Cretaceous!” said the man standing in front of him.

  Darius had been so excited that he hadn’t even introduced himself to the four other kids who were standing on the dock with him.

  “I know the trip from the mainland was rough on some,” the man said. “Hello, Ben…”

  Darius looked over at the kid standing next to him who gave a nervous thumbs-up to the man before bending over, obviously about to lose his lunch.

  Guess that’s Ben, Darius thought.

  “But ya made it! I’m Dave, head counselor,” the man said.

  Before Dave could say another word, a large vehicle broke through the brush in the distance, its horn honking wildly. The 6x4 skidded to a stop right in front of Darius and the other kids.

  “Ahh!” said a woman leaping out of the vehicle. “So sorry I’m late! Welcome, campers! I’m Roxie, head counselor of Camp Cretaceous!”

  Darius swiveled to look at “Head Counselor” Dave. The other kids did the same.

  “Well,” Dave laughed, “it’s sort of a ‘co-head counselor’ sorta situation.”

  “Is it?” Roxie asked cheerfully.

  Darius noticed that one of the kids was recording the moment with her phone.

  Dave cleared his throat loudly, then said, “Anyway! Some of you won contests to be here, some of you had VIP invites, b
ut for the next two weeks, all of you will be getting the five-star treatment.”

  “As our first campers, we’ve lined up exclusive behind-the-scenes tours of Jurassic World,” Roxie said. “There’s also kayaking, rock climbing, obstacle courses, and…of course…”

  “DINOSAURS!?” Darius said, his mouth apparently operating independently of his brain. His cheeks felt hot as Roxie looked at him over her clipboard, smiling.

  “Yes, Darius, plenty of dinosaurs,” she said. “So, ready for an adventure?”

  Before Darius could respond, another kid—the one who had been filming—said, “Absolutely! But I’m gonna need that speech a little shorter, and really try to lean into the majesty of this place.”

  Dave just ignored her. “Okay, we’re going now!” he said brightly. “Let’s get the six of you to camp!”

  Ben, free from his nausea for a moment, raised his hand and said, “Uh, there are five of us?”

  “Where is six?” Dave asked.

  Just then came the sound of a helicopter landing nearby, kicking up dirt and dust.

  “Greetings, my dudes!” said a tall guy stepping out of the helicopter. He was carrying a duffel bag as he walked toward the group. “Kenji is here, so let the party commence!”

  Kenji shoved his bag into Roxie’s arms. “Put this in my room,” Kenji said. Clearly irritated, Roxie blew a stray strand of hair out of her face.

  As the new boy strutted by, Darius wondered, What’s his deal?

  Then Roxie tossed the bag right back at Kenji, catching him in the stomach.

  “Okay!” she announced cheerfully. “Let’s go!”

  The 6x4 headed down a hill with Roxie at the steering wheel, making some hairpin turns. The kids were thrown left and right. Darius could have sworn that Ben was literally turning green.

  “What’s good, Brooklanders?” said the girl with the phone. She filmed herself constantly. “It’s your girl, Brooklynn, coming at you from the best place ever—Camp Cretaceous! Like and subscribe to join me, as I…unbox Jurassic World.”

  Brooklynn turned to face the other kids in the vehicle. “Okay, I need you all to say who you are and a little about yourself. Aaaaaaand…ACTION!”

  Before Darius even had a chance to object, Brooklynn’s phone was in his face. “Oh! Um…I beat this awesome VR dinosaur game. I’m Darius, by the—”

  “I’m sorry,” said another girl, abruptly cutting off Darius. “I just can’t believe—you’re Brooklynn! I’m Sammy Gutierrez, total Brooklander! Oh, also, my family supplies all the beef for the Park and that’s how I got here!”

  Brooklynn smiled at the girl and said, “Great to meet you, Sammy!”

  “Uh…what’s a ‘Brooklander’?” Darius asked.

  “Oh, that’s just what my online followers call themselves,” Brooklynn replied.

  “Uh, all twenty-seven million of us!” Sammy added excitedly.

  “Yep!” said another girl. “That’s why she’s the only one who gets to keep her cell phone. She’s ‘famous.’ ”

  And at just that moment, Ben finally threw up.

  * * *

  Darius thought the jungle on Isla Nublar was simply incredible. All the books he’d read, all the documentaries he’d seen—none of them had done it justice. He scanned the bushes as they drove through the jungle, hoping to see signs of dinosaurs.

  “Hold on!” Roxie shouted, hitting the brakes. The kids were flung forward against their seat belts.

  The counselors jumped out of the vehicle.

  “Um, Dave?” Ben asked meekly after being jostled by the sudden stop. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing you need to worry about!” Dave said, sounding super upbeat.

  This made Ben worry even more than he already had been worrying.

  “But you should all definitely stay in your seats.”

  That made everyone unbuckle their seat belts and leap to the side of the vehicle to see what was going on.

  Darius noticed that both Dave and Roxie were holding long pole-like objects in their hands. He recognized them as stun spears, which were almost standard issue among the people who worked at Jurassic World. The stun spears could momentarily stop a dinosaur without hurting them.

  Dave, Roxie, and the kids were all on edge, waiting for something to happen. Darius turned his head a little, then noticed some plants moving slightly.

  “Guys?” he said, trying to get everyone’s attention. “Guys?”

  No one had so much as looked at Darius, when a Compsognathus leaped from the brush and into the 6x4!

  The small, turkey-sized dinosaur skittered around the back of the vehicle, and the kids screamed. Darius fell over onto his back and noticed Kenji hiding behind Brooklynn.

  Darius felt something land on his stomach, and he looked up to see the Compy staring right at him.

  My first real dinosaur! Darius thought. Up close and in person! This is unbelievable!

  But before he could get a good look, Roxie threw a blanket over the Compy. Immediately, the small dinosaur seemed to calm down. Roxie placed the dinosaur in a what looked like a pet carrier.

  “Crisis averted,” Roxie said with a grin. “These things are ALWAYS getting out of their enclosure.”

  “A real live Compsognathus!” Darius said, still not quite believing it.

  Kenji rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. Took a blanket AND a cat carrier to catch it. BOR-ing.”

  “Scared you pretty good,” Darius said.

  Kenji scowled as the other kids tried really hard not to smile. Brooklynn took a pic, capturing the moment.

  * * *

  “Welcome to Camp Cretaceous!” Dave said grandly as the kids looked up at the massive gates.

  Camp Cretaceous was amazing!

  The camp seemed to be a part of the jungle itself. It looked kind of like Jurassic World—the buildings reminded Darius of all the photos he’d seen, and especially the VR game.

  One of the girls, an athletic-looking kid named Yasmina, was looking around, too. She seems nearly as impressed as me, Darius thought.

  Brooklynn, on the other hand, was documenting the moment on her phone. She slipped right in front of Yasmina, pointing the phone in her face. The girl’s face fell, and she appeared uncomfortable.

  “Yasmina!” Brooklynn shouted. “Hey, girl! So, as an elite athlete, how pumped are you for camp?”

  “Elite athlete?” Darius thought. Oh, right. Dave called her “Track Girl” before.

  “Not a huge fan of being on camera,” Yasmina said, walking off.

  “This place is almost as big as my family’s ranch back home!” Sammy said.

  “When we’re up and running, the camp will house five hundred kids and a hundred and fifty staff,” Roxie said.

  Then Dave said, “Listen up! Announcement time!”

  “Okay, everyone, there’re some ground rules to cover,” Roxie said. “Curfew is at eight p.m., and lights out is at nine p.m. sharp. This is for your safety. We are in a dinosaur-filled jungle! They’re amazing, but they are wild animals. You must always keep your distance or you could be seriously hurt, if not worse.”

  “Define ‘worse,’ ” Ben said.

  “Cabins are up thataway,” Dave said, and he pointed to what looked like the world’s most advanced tree houses, nestled into trees. Suspension bridges connected one tree house to another. It was obvious that no expense had been spared to make this the coolest camp in history! It was all above ground—and all just for them!

  “First one there gets top bunk!” Yasmina shouted, and “Track Girl” was off and running, pushing by Kenji.

  It was now a free-for-all, no-holds-barred race for the elevator, with each of the kids vying for the best bunk.

  Except Darius. He stayed behind, enthralled as he watched Roxie place the carrier containin
g the Compsognathus in a nearby truck.

  “Get this lovely lady back to her pen,” Roxie said to the driver. “Her family’s probably worried sick.”

  The truck zoomed off as Darius hollered, “Wait! Aw, man, I really wanted to get a closer look.”

  “I like your enthusiasm, Darius,” Dave said. “But right now it’s ‘claiming a bunk’ time.”

  “But it’s the first dinosaur I’ve ever seen in person and—”

  A loud thumping echoed throughout the campground. Everything seemed to vibrate. Darius felt the thump in the pit of his stomach—it reminded him of that queasy feeling he would get on a roller coaster right as it dipped down a hill and came up another.

  Then he looked at a puddle of water on the ground and saw it ripple.

  Then came another THUMP.

  “Oh, the day is not over, buddy,” Dave said with a grin.

  * * *

  “There’s a Brachiosaurus!” Darius practically screamed. “Parasaurolophus! Stegosaurus! Ankylosaurus!”

  The group had traveled from camp to a huge observation tower overlooking the valley below. Atop the platform, Darius saw an amazing panorama of Isla Nublar, the sun setting in the distance.

  The dinosaurs in the valley were the source of all the thumping Darius had experienced back at camp.

  Then Darius saw something that made his eyes pop out of his skull. “Are those Sinoceratops?” he said, pointing. “When did you get those?”

  Dave chuckled. “They’re cooking up all kinds of new dinos in the lab.”

  Darius watched as a herd of dinosaurs was being led by Camp Cretaceous workers riding all-terrain vehicles.

  “Whoa!” Sammy said. “Where are they herding them to?”