PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

XV. Kenji Pushes Eva To Her Imminent Death

"Guys," Eva snapped, gathering the campers' attention. "Let's go!"

Eva slipped her hoodie back over her head as she ran through the monorail cars, banging on the windows as she went. The campers flashed their lights through the windows as they ran.

They ended in the last car. The campers moving their lights through the windows, and Eva, hands curled into fists, banging on the back window. A pteronadon collided with it, the glass splintering. Eva jumped, then looked out, determined, and kept hitting the glass.

A loud screeching sound filled Eva's ears and she was thrown to the ground. A body landed atop her, palms on either side of her face, head against her breasts. She gritted her teeth, head bouncing against the floor.

"Get. Off me," Eva growled, eyes locked on Kenji's.

"You're very cushiony."

Eva's blood boiled, her eyes narrowing. "Three, two—"

Kenji immediately stepped off of her, hands shoved into his pockets. Nervously, he offered a hand to her. Eva rolled her eyes and stood on her own.

They peered over the edge of the glass, watching as the other monorail fell and crashed into the jungle floor in a fiery mess. The pteronadons flocked towards the explosion.

Eva sighed in relief, joining in on the campers' chants,

"Ben! Ben! Ben! Ben! Ben! Ben!"

After all, he had saved them. He had saved them all.

They ran to meet him at the front car.

"You saved us, Ben. I didn't know you had it in you," Darius grinned.

Ben smiled. He took a step forward. Glass shattered as a pteronadon entered the car, its claws latching around Ben's small frame, pulling him from the car on the other side.

Darius caught Ben's arm, his other latched around the handle on the seat. Eva's eyes widened— she wanted to help, but she was frozen with fear. The pteronadon let go of Ben, and Darius slid forward as he desperately tried to pull him back up.

"Help!"

"Hang on!"

"Darius! Darius! Darius!"

Ben slipped a few inches, Darius' hand wrapped around his wrist, now.

"Hang on!"

"Help!"

"Hold on, Ben!"

Ben's hand slipped, Darius barely catching him with both hands. The pteronadon came back into the picture, barreling against Ben. With one snap of its beak, Ben slipped from Darius' hold and into open air.

Eva's heart dropped into her stomach. Her lips felt dry against the harsh wind. Pteronadons croacked around them. Ben was gone. Ben was gone. And she had done nothing to help the boy she barely knew.

Ben's screams were drowned out by the pteronadons' screeches, and the distance the monorail put between them.

Yasmina backed up, bumping into Eva, though she didn't really mind. Kenji fell to the ground with one big exhale. Bumpy bellowed sadly.

"He's gone. He's... gone."

"I won't believe it!" Sammy whimpered, running forward. Yasmina caught her from running too close to the edge. "No! No..."

Darius stared at his hands, the ones that were once wrapped around Ben's. "We're going back... The monorail's going back!"

Brakes screeched hard, and Eva ended up back on the floor. She watched through the window as the monorail made a large U-turn.