PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

XX. Left Behind

"And I'll stay behind to make sure she rests," Kenji said, stepping up.

Eva's hand shot into the air. "Which means I'm going with you guys!"

"Can it be someone else? Literally anyone else. Eva?"

Eva shook her head.

"But Eva, you still have a concussion—"

"And my vision is mostly back to normal! It's just a headache now, I swear! I'm coming with."

Darius nodded. "Okay, Kenji, while Yaz rests, you start sorting through the broken stuff and find anything we can use."

"A hundred percent... maybe."

~~~

Brooklynn, Sammy, Darius and Eva left Yaz and Kenji at Camp Cretaceous as they headed in the direction of the clinic. Well, they could be headed in that direction. Darius had the map, and he seemed confident, but for all they knew, they were actually heading North towards the velociraptor pen, or south towards the park.

"Hey, Darius! Look at this!" Sammy shouted, showing off a large bone-looking plate on the ground.

"Woah! It's a stegosaurus plate! They shed them as they grow." Darius grinned, running his hand over the plate in amazement.

"Oh, like a deer shedding antlers? Round March, you can't walk two feet without stumbling over 'em back home. Me and my sister compete to see who can find the most. You know..." Sammy stood and approached the tree, which was covered with scratched up bark. "These look just like the marks the deer make. Helps them with the shedding. Maybe dinosaurs do the same thing?"

Eva started walking away, hopefully, in the right direction.

"This could be new behavior! That's so cool!"

"Know what would be even cooler? If there was dung nearby, we could see what this stego ate for lunch! Brooklynn, Eva! We're gonna see if there's dung!"

Brooklynn caught up to Eva's retreating figure. "Oh, just keep walking. They can not make you look at dung if you just keep walking."

Eva laughed, matching her pace.

"Hmm?"

"Hm? What?" Eva questioned as Brooklynn held up her stick in a defensive position, slowly circling around Eva. "Do you see something I don't?" She whispered, looking around as she raised her own stick.

"Uh, guys, do you hear that? Eva?"

Eva shook her head. "Sorry, my hearing's been out of whack since I donked my head."

"You say something?" Sammy asked as they approached.

"It— it's nothing. Must have been a weird bird, or..."

~~~

Brooklynn continued to lead the charge, pulling apart two large leaves to reveal the clinic.

"Oh thank god," Eva muttered. She held her stick close to her chest, glancing around the small space.

The longer they were walking around, searching for the clinic, the more Eva realized how out in the open they really were. And although a stick wouldn't do much to deter a hungry dinosaur, she felt herself leaning on it in hopes it would do something to protect her.

The clinic was filled with discarded boxes and trunks, and about twenty large cages, which Eva guessed were to hold dinosaurs. Maybe it was some sort of veterinarian station, or something.

Darius picked up a box, looking for any way to bust it open. "Let's make this quick. Anything that might help with Yaz's ankle—"

"Food!" Brooklynn raised a can of pears into the air triumphantly.