PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

LXIX. Peer Pressure

They met back up with Kenji and Mae, and Sammy and Brooklynn. Darius asked if everyone was okay, and while they yammered on about being okay, Eva tugged Yaz's shoulder slightly and repeated the question in a low voice.

"I will be," Yaz replied. "As soon as we get on that supply plane."

Eva nodded— there was no reason to disagree with her. If anything, Eva was on the same side. She'd manage as best she could until they got home safely. Now that she thought about it, Yaz would be the last person to throw Eva under the bus and onto dino duty.

Yaz was probably as traumatized as Eva felt.

She pulled the brunette into a quick hug, whispering, telling her if she needed to talk at all, Eva would be there. Now if only Eva could listen to her own advice.

"It worked!" Mae gasped. "The plane will be here in three hours with new food and replacement parts. You lot are going home."

Eva sighed in relief, but she couldn't help but feel like the adventure wasn't over. It all felt too good to be true. Something would happen, and her and her friends would be stuck on this mystery island for longer. Something would happen, and Eva's mental health would dangle by a thread without a real plan for safety. Something would happen, and she might just burst into tears as a reaction.

Green light passed over Eva and she jumped, bad memories from the day previous hitting her like a truck.

"Unauthorized life forms detected."

Mae took a stand in front of the campers. "Stop! Stand down!"

"Command override due to unauthorized life forms." The BRAD said, walking around Mae. "Initiating elimination protocol."

"Eva, get behind me," Kenji said.

She hesitantly took a step back— she'd love to not get fried, but she wouldn't exactly like it if Kenji was the one of all people to stop that from happening to her.

"Run, everyone, run!" Mae yelled.

Everyone took off, Kenji and Eva running hand in hand.

"Keep left!" Mae instructed. "The airlock to the supply plane is just ahead!

The airlock slid open, revealing two more BRADs.

The campers changed course, heading to the right instead.

"There's another airlock not far from here. The only challenge is—"

"Look out!" Brooklynn gasped.

Sammy and Ben ducked, a ball of electricity missing them by inches.

"Split up!" Darius yelled.

"Just keep eyes on me," Mae instructed.

Sammy, Kenji and Eva split off from the others, weaving between trees and under low hanging branches before meeting back up with the others outside yet another airlock.

Mae locked the door, panting. "Okay, okay, that should slow them down."

Immediately, the door turned green and slid open, revealing the BRADs.

"Or not!"

Eva's chest ached as they continued to run, Mae leading them left, then right, then left again. One of the BRADs fired a shot, which only ended up hitting a pipe, filling the corridor with smoke.

"How do we stop the BRADs from following us?!" Sammy exclaimed in a panic.

The campers and Mae stopped outside an airlock door, the BRADs advancing on them slowly. Beady red eyes grew bigger and bigger through the smoke.