PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

XXXVIII. Crates of Food

"But you picked up a souvenir." Yaz motioned to his right hand, which Eva realized was holding a video camera. "Nice."

"I found it in the nest," Darius said.

Eva chuckled nervously. "Uh, nest?"

"What the hell happened?" Sammy asked.

The campers stopped to stare at Darius. "Well, since we're out of food and we already picked all the fruit near camp, I went farther out. I found some up a pretty high tree, but then this huge gust of wind knocked me off. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in the middle of a nest, surrounded by eggs. And I hear this strange clicking noise from whatever brought me here."

"I think you're drinking too much dumb bitch juice," Eva said.

Kenji softly elbowed her shoulder. "Who's his dealer? You?"

"Real funny, har har. Don't you know dealers don't touch their own supplies? You, on the other hand..."

Kenji nudged her with his elbow, the both of them sporting grins. Kenji had this look on his face that made Eva wonder what he was really thinking about. Eva nudged him back, and his eyes fell to the ground.

"—So, this clicky dino dragged you all the way to its nest, but didn't eat you?" Sammy asked.

"Yeah. Me and a Monolophosaurus. It wasn't as lucky as I was."

Darius started walking again, and Brooklynn quickly matched his pace. She hugged her hands to her chest and whispered, "Do you think it kept you alive to feed you to its babies?"

"That would explain why I'm alive," he guessed.

"Dark, Dino Nerd," Kenji said. "But how do you explain... the smell?"

"Wait, what?" Eva chuckled as Darius sniffed at the air. "Do I smell?"

Oh, so it was him. She probably should have made that connection sooner, but the smell was clogging her brain cells.

Brooklynn blew a raspberry. "No."

"Define smell," Ben smiled through the pain.

"Not at all!" Sammy said, cheerful as ever.

Darius offered what could only be described as a threatening look coming straight from a bearded collie.

"Really, really bad," Yasmina caved.

Kenji covered his nose, and spoke in a weird voice. "Like a dirty lizard cage that's been left under a heat lamp."

"Yeah, you reek, man."

Darius scrunched his face, until he burst out laughing. "That bad, huh? Don't worry, I'm sure it'll fade away soon."

"Dinosaurs," Yaz muttered. "Just, why?"

"You know, if dinosaurs didn't exist, I never would have met Kenji," Eva commented out of the blue.

"Wait, what?" He laid a hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

Yaz quirked an eyebrow at the two.

"Yeah, so my parents completely settled into the suburbs of San Diego. I mean, like, they completely paid off their house, they had the baby room already designed for me, and then like, three years before I was born, boom! A T-Rex appeared in their backyard. They were like—" Eva raised her hands in mock surrender, "—'fuck this shit I'm out', and moved to New York. So you can thank dinosaurs for having to put up with me for so long," she laughed, patting his shoulder.

"You're for real?"

She nodded, "Sad I missed out on being a SoCal baby, but I most likely wouldn't have met any of you losers, either."