Chapter Eleven: Eva Is Attracted To Yaz For 3.4 Seconds
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They entered the genetics lab swiftly, keeping themselves in a close huddle as Yasmina led them down corridors to the lab they toured a couple days prior. Eva shuffled her feet along the concrete floors, stopping at the entrance of the main lab room. Her eyebrows furrowed; why was there a lit birthday cake on the table?
A face popped up from the side and Eva screamed. Someone pushed her out to the back of the hallway. Her body thumped against the glass wall behind her. Cautiously, she raised her fists, unable to see what was happening in the front anymore.
"Not dinosaurs!" A voice yelled from inside. "You're not.. Dinosaurs. Oh, this is the worst birthday ever..."
The campers slowly entered the room, Eva eyeing the lab worker suspiciously. Why was he here all by himself? And again, what was with the lit birthday cake? It was honestly freaking her out.
Eva took a seat on one of the tables, and a moment later, Sammy was handing her a slice of birthday cake.
"Ooh!" She cheered, picking up the fork and taking a bite. Her mouth melted at the vanilla cake and cream cheese frosting. She hadn't eaten anything all day, which she wasn't used to. At Rutherford, the two dining commons were open from five a.m. to midnight, every day. And even when she was staying with her grandparents over holiday breaks, there was enough food in the fridge to feed an army. So the fact that she hasn't eaten in, what, ten hours? Disastrous, if you ask her. She didn't really care that she was eating pure sugar at the moment, because, in the end, it was still food.
"We are so happy we found you, things are crazy! There's a giant camouflage dinosaur out there. Also, regular dinosaurs. We've been hoping to find someone—"
"You're sure you closed the door behind you, right?" Eva couldn't take the guy seriously considering he was wearing a striped party hat.
"Uh, I think so."
"You think, or you know?"
Kenji burped, then awkwardly held out his half-eaten slice. "Sorry. You want it back?"
"You know what, it doesn't matter! The dinosaurs got out and no one bothered to tell me; they just ran. So, why not? Knock yourself out."
Eva awkwardly looked down at her finished slice of cake and pursed her lips. She wordlessly got off the counter and headed to the table with the cake, adding another slice to her plate.
"Ugh, there's no dial tone!" Brooklynn complained.
Eva spun around, nearly dropping her cake in the process.
"The landlines are down," the birthday guy said. "So is the radio, and cell phone service keeps cutting out."
"But the park obviously has a plan," Darius tried. "So, what's the plan? What do we do?"
"You're asking me?" The birthday guy began cackling like a maniac. "You're— you're asking me?"
Eva sighed and set down her cake. She clapped her hands twice, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "Reality check, motherfucker. Jurassic World is falling— you're on an island with dinosaurs that want to eat you. So what the fuck do we do?"
"Do you not get it?" Birthday stepped forward, his eyes piercing into Eva's. "We're doomed. No one is coming to help!"
"But, what about Dr. Wu, or—"
"Wu?" Birthday asked incredulously, turning to Kenji. "Who do you think is to blame? Wu got greedy— a-a-and instead of dinosaurs, he built monsters! Masrani, Dearing, they're all clueless about what's really going on here. And after everything I did for the other guys—" Birthday began chuckling again, upping his creep factor.
Eva picked up her cake and started eating again.
"Other guys? What other—"
"It doesn't matter, does it? Jurassic World isn't a park. It's a powder keg and it is detonating all around us!"
Eva flicked her finger at Birthday, "We are a powder keg about to explode, I need someone like you to lighten the load."
"What part of this don't you understand?" Birthday demanded, his voice booming in the room. "We're all going down! End of story!"
"You know, I was just, I was just—"
Yaz shook her head and whispered to Eva not to say anything else.
"It was just song lyrics," Eva whispered to her.
Yasmina whispered back, "I know, but you're not helping the situation, at all."
"No, you have to know what to do," Darius said. "You're an adult!"
"Don't look at me, I was just hiding until you all barged in."
"But, we drove all the way here because—"
"Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah. You have a vehicle?!"
Birthday pushed Darius to the ground before dashing out the door.
"Uh, guys? I left the keys in the van."
Eva made eye contact with Yasmina, and they were the first two out the door, the others close behind.
"Stop! What are you doing?"
"Getting out of here alive!"
Yasmina and Eva took off, on the hunt.
Bumpy rain forward and tripped Yaz, causing her to tumble to the ground. Eva jumped Bumpy, only to run into Yasmina as she was getting to her feet. An elbow landed in her stomach, and somehow Yaz ended up on top of Eva, chest to chest.
"Eva," Yasmina growled.
"Well, hello, up there." Eva offered a small but flirtatious smile.
Yasmina flushed, then stood up quickly. She pulled Eva to her feet in the process. She pushed her forward slightly, then took off again. Eva sighed before following after the track star. They made it to the van, but Birthday quickly took off in it, leaving them in the dust.
All Yasmina gave Eva was a nod before they started running after Birthday, though Eva was slightly further behind the track star.
And then the Indominus appeared. It reared its head against the van, flinging it off road. Yaz slipped in the dirt, falling to her knees. Eva slid to a stop a few feet away from Yasmina.
Roaring, it completely ignored Yasmina and Eva, and instead went for the van.
Eva didn't hesitate to run in the opposite direction. She didn't even bother checking for Yaz, in fact, until she heard the brunette behind her. They met back up with the campers, only to run into an intact fence. Probably the only intact fence on the island, with how their luck was running.
The Indominus roared, getting closer. The group hid behind a large rock surrounded by shipping containers and barrels of god knows what.
Ben hugged Bumpy, trying to shush her wails.
"I told you she'd get in the way!" Yaz said lowly. "If it wasn't for her, Eva and I could have made the van!"
Eva pushed her back against the rock, not bothering to argue with Ben.
"And then you guys would have been eaten! Bumpy saved your life—" He glanced at Eva, "—Both of your lives."
"Why couldn't you just leave her behind?!"
"Because I won't abandon her like we were!"
The campers fell silent as they took in Ben's words.
Darius was the first to break it. "Ben's right. We're on our own."
The Indominus roared again, this time much closer. Eva covered her ears and pulled her knees to her chest as her body began to shake.
Bumpy began bellowing loudly, the Indominus roaring back in response.
She was giving them away.
It snarled, a guttural sound echoing off the shipping containers.
A hand rested on her knee, and her eyes sprung open to see Brooklynn in front of her, eyes warm, but flitting, nervous. The ACU tablet clutched in her left hand, knuckles white. Eva grabbed the girl's hand as they both stood.
Darius silently led the group behind a bright blue shipping container, and then another. They moved slowly and calculatingly, considering they were being hunted by a carnivorous dinosaur hybrid, their chances weren't looking too high.
Eva's fight, flight or freeze was kicking in, and all she wanted to do was curl into a ball under a rock and stay there, but somehow— maybe with Brooklynn by her side, she was able to continue on.
Eva stood with her back to a shipping container, listening to the Indominus sniff around for them. Ben, Bumpy and Kenji had yet to move forward, but the Indominus was close—probably too close for them to move without being seen. Darius picked up a rock and chucked it at some barrels a few dozen feet away.
Ben, Bumpy and Kenji rejoined the group. Eva glanced around the space, her eyes landing on their van. She tapped Darius and pointed in the direction of the van with her free hand. Darius nodded.
He led them again, the campers picking up their pace. However, just as they turned a sharp corner, Brooklynn slipped from Eva's grasp, and tumbled to the ground. The tablet hit the dirt and began beeping. Eva's eyes widened and she bit her tongue, eyes flickering from the van to Brooklynn.
She quickly pulled Brooklynn to her feet, tablet in her hand. Sammy pushed them away from the Indominus as it stalked closer around a shipping container, snarling.
"Go, go, go!" Eva shouted, one hand latched around Brooklynn's wrist and the other Sammy's.
The trio slid between two shipping containers, the Indominus hot on their heels. It snapped its jaw at them, ramming its face into their opening, inches away.
"Go away, go away, go away," Eva muttered, cowered behind Sammy.
A banging noise echoed, Eva barely able to hear Darius' voice, "Hey! Over here!"
More banging.
The Indominus followed the noise, leaving the girls alone. Eva sighed in relief and led the two girls to the van, where Kenji, Yasmina and Ben were.
Eva slid into the front seat and closed the door behind her. She had her hands resting on the wheel when the driver's side door reopened, revealing Yasmina. The brunette pushed Eva into Kenji's side without hesitation. "I'm driving!"
Shrinking away from Kenji, she raised her hands lightly in surrender. "Okay, then..."
Darius ran into the back of the van, the Indominus hot on his tail. Yasmina stepped on the gas, the van flying to the right. The Indominus roared behind them, but stopped chasing them. Eva turned back to the front, sighing in relief.
"Kids? Come on, pick up!"
Eva gasped.
"There's something going on, stay at camp. We're heading to you."
Darius picked up the radio. "No, we're heading to you!"
"Darius! Wait, why are you—"
"We're fine, but we had to leave camp. Long story."
"Short story," Yaz spoke into the walkie talkie, "A dinosaur ate camp."
"Shorter story: epic leader Kenji somehow got everyone out safely."
"And then we found a van, and Bumpy!"
At her name, Bumpy squealed.
The radio was passed to Eva next. "We're cutting through the jungle and heading to the main park. Should be there soon!"
"We're getting out of here!"
"Yes!"
"Fucking finally!"
"Whoo! Driver en route!"
"God damn!"
Eva rolled her head around, her headache finally starting to dissipate. Kenji hooked his arm over the edge of their seat and looked back at Darius.
"Good job not getting me eaten, bro."
"Thanks, brah."
Eva giggled.
"Oh, no, you— you made that sound weird."
"Brah," Eva laughed again.
"Oh, not you too. No more bro talk for you— either of you."
Sammy cackled, "We did it camp family! And not a moment too—"
The van hit a rough patch in the road, everyone grasping onto something. Well, Eva held onto the dash, seeing as how there was no seatbelt where she was. Something clattered on the ground.
"My phone! I knew it!"
Eva, Yasmina and Kenji all turned back to see Brooklynn's shattered phone on the ground, and a shocked Sammy above it.
"Sammy?"
The tires squealed, and just as Eva turned around, the van rammed into a large rock. Eva felt her body fly forward as she scrunched her eyes shut. Her head dinged the dash, but hands held her from crashing any further into the front of the car. Eva groaned, one hand gripping the arm around her stomach and the other her head.
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y'know if I was Eva, I'd probably crush on Yaz, too
I bet you'd never guess who saved Eva from smacking into the dash...