PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

XII. Eva Kicks A Dinosaur In The Head For The First Time

Chapter Twelve: Eva Kicks A Dinosaur In The Head For The First Time

~~~

Eva opened her eyes groggily. When she pulled her hand away from her head, her fingers were sticky with blood. She rolled her head to the right, where Kenji was looking at her awkwardly.

"Did you... did you just Soccer Mom me?"

"Don't mention it," Kenji smiled at her. "Hey, you're bleeding—"

"Yeah..." Eva's eyes fluttered shut, then reopened, then closed again. "I'm cool, just tired."

"Uh, I don't think, I mean, that's not what I..."

"Is everyone okay?" Darius asked from the back.

"Is everyone...?" Yasmina chuckled, exiting the car.

"Uh, Eva?" Kenji snapped his fingers in front of her face. She lazily waved him off.

"I'm fine," She mumbled.

"I really tried to Soccer Mom you faster, I swear, but I..." He looked around between the campers exiting through the back door and Eva.

"I'm fine," She repeated, slightly louder now. When she opened her eyes, her vision was slightly blurry, like the lights were covered in streaks and everything came out hazy. "We should check on the others." She slid out of the driver's side of the car, stumbling slightly as her feet hit the ground.

"Okay, now I know you're not good," She heard Kenji say.

"—onster dinosaur out there, and you... You..."

Yasmina was going off on Sammy a few feet away.

"Destroyed our only way to get help and lied about it! I told you guys!" Brooklynn spit.

Eva narrowed her eyes as she leaned against the van. Her headache had returned in full force, and she wasn't really in the mood to hear the girls argue, although she was curious as to why Sammy would do it, since she doesn't seem like the klepto type.

"So, you did take Brooklynn's phone?" Darius probed. "Why? What were you doing?"

"Probably trying to erase my video of her taking those samples from the sinoceratops. And you knew about the Indominus rex because you were snooping around Dr. Wu's office when I ran into you. I knew it!"

"I didn't mean to destroy the phone. I- I fell on it when the zipline came down and—"

"But you did steal it?" Ben joined the conversation. "You had it that whole time and didn't tell us?"

"Hold up, what were you doing in Dr. Wu's office, Brooklynn?" Darius asked.

"I... it doesn't matter! I didn't break our only way to call for help and then lie about it! This is not my fault! This is her fault! She—"

"I'm here to spy!" Sammy bursted. She crossed her arms, hugging herself, and looked down at the ground. "For a company called Mantah Corp."

"Mantah Corp?" Eva whispered to herself.

"They're a bioengineering company, big rivals with Masrani," Darius told them. "They tried to make dinosaurs, too, but Dr. Wu beat them to it."

Ben scoffed, "You doomed us all for some lousy company."

"Back off, Ben," Eva bit. "She probably had a good reason... I hope."

"I- I do. I did. Our ranch was in trouble, so my folks had to borrow a lot of money from some shady people. We didn't know they were fronting for Mantah Corp. They said we'd lose everything unless I spied for them. Use the behind-the-scenes access I'd get at camp to gather info from Wu's lab, and DNA from dinos, and whatever else they needed. But then Brooklynn caught on, and I got scared, and then everything went wrong.