PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

XIII. Yasmina is a Certified Badass

Eventually, their kayaks bursted out of a tunnel and into a lagoon.

Eva continued to laugh as she pulled her arm off Sammy and sat back.

Kenji gasped loudly, catching her attention.

She chuckled once more, eyes stuck on Kenji. He held his paddle close to his chest, his fingers fidgeting, tapping the long shaft.

"Why'd you gasp?" Ben questioned. "It didn't sound like a good gasp!"

Kenji answered, his voice wavering, "'Cause I know exactly where we are, guys. We're in the Jurassic World Lagoon." Kenji's voice dropped to a whisper, and Eva had to strain her ears to hear, "And so is the Mosasaurus."

"I assume the Mosasaurus is some kind of giant fish dinosaur that's gonna try and eat us."

"Damn it, why couldn't they have created something like the Triassic kraken or a megalodon?" Eva immediately shook her head. "I retract that last statement, cause I don't fuck with sharks."

A low growling emitted from across the lagoon, and the Mosasaurus made its first appearance, its dorsal fin emerging just above the water before dipping back down. The Mosasaurus began circling them.

"It's circling, testing us," Brooklynn whispered. "It's acting like a shark."

"Oh, god damn it."

"We're intruders in its domain, so it's investigating us. Before it gets confident, decides to... to..."

The mosasaurus snarled, its cry echoing throughout the lagoon.

"This is bad."

"We have to get out, now!"

"There's a ladder by the spectator stands," Darius pointed.

"How are we gonna—"

"Y'all!"

"Paddle! Go, go, go!"

"This is not how Kenji wanted to go out!"

"This isn't on my to-do list either!" Yaz cried.

Sammy screamed, her frantic paddling nearly drenching Eva in water. She felt so useless. By now, the CKK had reached the ladder, and Ben and Yasmina were halfway to it. Eva reached out her right hand, "Give me the paddle, Darius!"

"What? But—"

"Paddle!" She demanded, her face flushed red.

The paddle shakily entered her hand, and in a second it was Eva's turn to pitch in to save herself. The mosasaurus circled their kayak as Eva thrust her paddle into the water.

The kayak quirked right, moving with Eva's paddling.

"Why is the—"

"Paddle harder!" Eva snapped. She moved to the left side to straighten them out, then back to the right.

"Don't look back, guys!" Darius encouraged. "Just keep paddling!"

"I'm trying! What's Yaz doing?"

Bang. Bang. Bang. "Hey! Hey! Over here! Heyy!" Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. "Over here! Here! Here! Yes! Here!"

"She's distracting it, buying us time."

"Keep going!"

Eva, Darius, and Sammy finally reached the spectator stands. Eva was the first off, steadying the boat for Darius and Sammy. She gave Sammy a hand up as Darius clambered onto the platform beside them.

Yasmina was still stuck on the pole that connected the line to the spectator stands—the line that fed the Mosasaurus.

"We gotta do something!" Sammy panicked.