PANIC ROOM • KENJI KON

LXXII. No Match For Big Eatie

The girls crept towards a warehouse, sneaking inside when the BRAD opened the door. The inside was filled with BRADs, BRADs, and you guessed it! More BRADs.

"They're inactive," Brooklynn whispered, gesturing to the dozens of BRAD robots lined up inside.

The girls hid behind a set of boxes.

"Finally, took you long enough," a male said from the other end of the warehouse.

"Kash?" Yaz whispered.

"Let's get closer," Eva suggested.

They moved closer, keeping to the shadows.

"Prepare the test space outside my compound," Kash said.

"Unable to connect to drone perimeter system," the BRAD said.

Kash sighed. "Retry connection protocol."

"Unable to connect to drone perimeter system."

"Ugh, fine!" Kash threw whatever he was holding, and it collided with the trunk the girls were hiding behind. "Like everything else... I'll do it myself!"

Eva peered over the edge to see Kash toss his phone on the table. He then picked up a screwdriver, turning to the robot next to him. She waddled around the trunk, headed for his work space, for the phone.

Her hand reached out, her fingers grazed the top of his phone when the computer beeped, and Kash slammed his fist against the table.

"No connection either?! When I get a hold of those imbecile freelancers—" he picked up his keyboard and threw it on the ground like a child, while Eva reached for the phone again. "—Who messed up my code—"

Brooklynn and Yasmina pulled Eva back behind the trunk.

"I am gonna—!" Something crashed and Eva flinched, grabbing Yaz's hand by instinct.

"Ooh, my earbud," Kash said in a cheery voice as if he didn't just trash his workspace like a toddler. "Thought I lost it."

Rock music played so loud, Eva could hear it coming through his earbuds as he walked away.

"I could have gotten the phone!" Eva whisper shouted.

"And he would have found us."

"What good would that have done?"

Eva rolled her eyes. Her hand was literally touching the phone, and they pulled her back before she could grab it. The audacity.

Brooklynn, Yaz and Eva followed Kash back to the compound he was at the day prior, where he tried to kill Mae. Kash walked around singing rock and playing an air guitar, which is normal behavior, but because it was on someone as crazy as Kash, it left a bad taste in Eva's mouth.

Kash walked past the two velociraptors, smirking when the drones held them back, squealing in pain. He continued on, through the front doors.

"Brooklynn, Eva, I, I can't..."

"Yeah, no," Brooklynn agreed, laying a hand on Yaz's shoulder. "We're not taking on raptors, BRADs, and Kash alone. Come on, let's go find the others."

~~~

"We found Kash. In this, creepy warehouse full of BRADs."

"I almost had the phone, but then..." She started off accusatory, her voice falling flat and gone.

"He went back inside the compound," Brooklynn continued.

"The BRADs forced Big Eatie away from her daughter," Darius told them. "They shocked her until she left with them."