PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

IX. Eva (Surprisingly) Saves Her Mortal Enemy From Certain Death

Ben and Kenji were arguing about something, too, but Eva didn't care enough to listen, or help Ben.

Hearing footsteps, she raised her head to see Darius approaching her.

"I should tell you, if you're about to yell at me for something pointless, you should know that slapping people falls above my morality line, Darius."

Darius raised his hands in a surrender. "Please do not slap me."

"What's wrong?"

Darius glanced behind them at the bickering teens. "You really have to ask that?"

Eva sighed and stood up. The two headed back to the group.

"—saw people get eaten," Ben said. "We're alone, we're defenseless, we're dead."

Eva approached Ben, and lightly kicked him with the edge of her shoe.

"What do you want?" He asked rather bluntly.

"You felt that, right?" The boy nodded. "Yeah, you're not dead. Let's try to keep it that way."

Darius shook his head at her poor choice of words. "We're not giving up! I get it. It's scary. This.. wasn't how it was supposed to be." Everyone looked at him with anticipation. Eva smiled lightly. "Things aren't always gonna go your way. Life is messy, and sometimes... things fall apart. But that's okay because when that happens, we pick up the pieces and keep going. And we never give up."

Eva shouted, her hands cupped together, "Amen!"

"What about your necklace?" Brooklynn asked.

"It's.. not important. I've got the memories right here—" He placed his hand over his heart.

"What are we supposed to do?" Yasmina asked.

"Get south to the park. Get help. And the only way we'll make it is if we do it together. We're a team or we're nothing at all."

Eva spoke up, "I'm with you, Darius."

"Me too," Kenji added.

"Wait, really?"

"Dude, there's no way I survived a dinosaur attack—" Eva glanced up, just in time to notice a wooden board falling directly where Kenji was standing. Her eyes widened and she quickly jumped forward, knocking both of them out of the way. "... Just to be taken out by cheap camp debris. Kenji ain't going out like that." He turned back to Eva, "Did you hit your head when we fell off the zipline?"

Did Kenji sound... worried?

Eva shrugged nonchalantly. "Can't have my mortal enemy taken out by a plank of wood. So, going South. Who's coming?"

~~~

"Aah!"

"Aah!" Everyone screamed, turning to glare at Ben.

Eva's hands shot up to her chest, curled into fists.

"Sorry, I stepped on a twig..."

"Ugh, come on, man!"

"You done gave me a heart attack."

Eva took a deep breath in a shallow attempt to calm her racing heart. She glared at the young boy, but held her tongue.

"I should step on you," Kenji said.

Eva instinctively slapped his shoulder. Kenji slapped her back. Eva slapped him again, and the two instantly fell into a small, shoulder-slapping battle that only ended with Darius calling their names.

"You two fight like twelve year olds!" Darius scolded. "Aren't you guys the oldest out of all of us?"

Eva looked down at her shoes, mumbling, "He started it."

"Okay!" Darius stepped between them and grabbed Kenji's wrist, dragging him a few feet away. "For however long it takes us to get to the main park and get help, you two have to stay apart by six feet. Got that?"

"Yep."

"No problem."

Darius sighed, turning to the others, who were back to arguing about Brooklynn's phone.

Eva glanced Kenji to find him already looking at her. He didn't look away when they made eye contact, so Eva stepped away, focusing on the other campers.

"My fellow campers, chill!" Kenji said, a little too loudly for her liking. He walked backwards to Darius' side. "What we need here is someone who can make the hard call on what to do next. Since I'm obviously leadership material... I'll do this. And my first decree as leader is, for everyone to stop talking and just listen to Darius."

"Huh?"

Kenji pulled Darius into a little side huddle and began whispering to him. Pulling back, Kenji said, "So, which way, Darius?"

Eva rolled her eyes.

"Please," Brooklynn laughed. "You're just trying to cover up the fact that you're lost, too, Mr. VIP. None of us know where we are!"

"I know where we are!" Eva's eyes widened in surprise at Darius' remark. "We're by the Carnotaurus paddock! I thought this place looked familiar."

Oh, from his little excursion with Kenji, I'm guessing?

"Am I an awesome leader, or what?"

"Or what," Eva chirped as she walked past Kenji, following after Darius.

They approached a broken, torn apart enclosure fence.

Ah, fuck.

"Shit, so Toro is out here, with us?"

"Now we have to deal with the Indominus and Toro. Hold up, how do you know about Toro?" He asked quizzically.

"We all know," Yaz said. "Kenji told us, like, the day after it happened."

"In my defense, me saving you was super cool."

Darius sighed. "We know this enclosure is due north of the main park. So, if we keep going that way, we'll hit the visitor's center. We're sure to find Dave and Roxie or someone else there in charge."

Eva nodded, and the campers all ultimately agreed, deciding to follow Darius's plan of action. Eva stepped through the tall grass, side by side with Darius, and the pair began to lead the way.