Chapter Twenty Nine: Only Kenji Can Call Me That
~~~
"You guys are gonna love this place, it's just up here."
Mitch gasped, while Tiff muttered a, "Wow!"
They both raised their cameras and began snapping photos. Darius looked back to Eva and mouthed, See? They're harmless.
Eva rolled her eyes in response, but Darius ignored her. He mimicked the call of the brachiosaurus.
Heavy footfalls approached as the nearest brachiosaurus came closer to them. It bowed its head down, bellowing softly at Mitch, who raised his hand into the air.
Eva chewed on her lips. It felt like ants were crawling all over her heart, all throughout her chest. She bounced her leg nervously on the ground as Mitch and Darius mimicked the calls some more.
"If you think this is cool, there is one more place we could go." Darius shot Eva a look, as if he knew she'd try to speak up and protest.
"The watering hole," Mitch said.
"Just my favorite place on the island! I mean, getting that close to so many herbivores and carnivores and nobody's fighting?!"
"You could get lots of good pictures there!"
Eva breathed in heavily. There was no way she was the only one that could see there was really something wrong with Mitch and Tiff here. Had the other campers never been brutally betrayed by someone they once called a friend? There was no way she was the only Stiles Stilinski, here.
"Babe, what would we do without this kid?" Mitch directed at Tiff.
She smiled eagerly, "Let me radio Hap with the change of plans. Watering hole day!"
~~~
"Babe, you okay?" Mitch asked Tiff, with worry-filled eyes. Tiff ran up to the others, her eyes darting between the campers and Mitch.
"You know babe, I think we should pack up, head back to camp," Tiff responded. Her eyes flicked to Eva, and she could see a viciousness in them, before they softened back on Mitch.
Eva quirked an eyebrow. "What's going on, Tiff?"
"Oh, nothing big," she reassured, but she was picking at the nailbed of her thumb, and had her other hand wrapped so tightly around her radio, her knuckles were turning white. "Just an odd conversation with Hap. Why don't we go—" she placed a hand on Mitch's chest, "— Now, okay? Okay..."
"Do you think—"
"I'm sure everything's fine," Darius reassured the campers.
When they returned back to Mitch and Tiff's camp, it was deserted.
"Guys!"
"Brooklynn!"
"Kenji!"
They all shouted, looking for their missing campers. But no matter how much they yelled Brooklynn's and Kenji's names, there was no response.
"He's not in the bathroom, either!" Yaz relayed as she left that yurt.
To say Eva was worried was an understatement. Over the last three weeks, she had grown close enough with Brooklynn, who she felt was like a younger sibling— even though she had never had a sibling before— and the fact that she was missing— her, Kenji, and G.I. Joe Hap, it just didn't sit right with her. She even missed her mortal enemy, she realized, when her thoughts kept drifting to the boy she hated, wondering if he was all right.
Brooklynn suspected Hap, and now all three of them were missing? What was Eva missing? Why had the three of them disappeared? What had Hap done to them?
"Children," Tiff called the campers over. "Mitchell and I are gonna have a quick grown up conference. You stay put. We'll BRB, okay?" She tugged Mitch away from them and towards the jungle.
~~~
Within ten minutes of Tiff and Mitch's little "grown up conference" they were packing bags and boxes, running around their little camp with their arms full of supplies.
Mitch rounded the picnic table with a duffle in hand as Tiff set down two boxes. "Did you pack the camo net like I asked you to, babe?"
"I already told you I did, babe!" She responded obnoxiously, through gritted teeth and an eye roll.
"It's just, sometimes you forget, like that time with the—"
"Night vision goggles. Two years ago. Let it go, babe."
"Uh, what's going?" Darius asked nervously from his seat at the campfire. "I mean, do we really need all this to go look for Brooklynn, Kenji and Hap?"
A beat of silence passed.
"We just want to be prepared for whatever we might encounter along the way. After all, the boat will be here in three days. You wanna be rescued in one piece, don't you?" Mitch asked.
"What?" Yasmina stood. "You said the boat would be here in two days."
"Two to three days, right, babe?"
"Hundred percent, mmhm. Now grab that 'stuff' we need from Hap's yurt."
"Um, I thought Hap said no one's allowed in his yurt," Sammy spoke up.
"Yeah," Eva probed. "He did say that, didn't he?"
Tiff shoved a candy bar into Sammy's hands. "All right, why don't you guys have some chocolate? It's from France, and over there! Go on!"
Yaz looked over her shoulder at the retreating adults. "I can't be the only one that thought that was weird."
"What?" Darius asked, clueless.
"How do you forget what day the boat is coming back?"
"And they're being kinda shady about all that stuff they're packing," Sammy added.
Eva's eyes lit up and she smacked Yaz's shoulder.
"Ow! Eva— Eva! What's wrong with you?"
'Hear me out, they 'forgot' what day the boat is coming back because the boat is here."
"Here? What do you mean here?" Sammy asked.
"It's on the island. Look, they said they were refueling in Papagayo. Papagayo is in Costa Rica. That's a hundred and twenty miles from here. They were lying. The boat has to be on the island."
Darius shook his head. "Why would they lie about that?"
"Animal traffickers," Eva said as she opened the French chocolate bar.
Sammy gasped.
"Or poachers." She took a bite, moaning in pleasure.
"That's worse!"
"Actually, animal trafficking has to be worse, because they suffer more," Eva disagreed.
"You three are just as paranoid as Brooklynn," Darius muttered.
"At least I called Mitch and Tiff before B called Hap."
"And that's something to celebrate?"
"Something to keep in mind if we ever make it out of here alive and run into any more strangers."
They watched as Tiff set another duffle on the table, then turned and waved at them, a sickly sweet smile playing on her lips. Eva wiggled her fingers in return, watching the woman distrustfully.
"Fine, I'll prove all three of you wrong. Here's the plan. Sammy, you distract Tiff. Yaz, you distract Mitch. Eva and I will break into Hap's yurt to see what's really up."
Everyone split up, Sammy and Yaz running up to the adults to distract them. Eva and Darius snuck over to Hap's yurt and peeled back the door flap just enough for them to sneak inside.
Darius picked up a mug and scoffed, "Real suspicious."
He walked to a table with weapons atop, while Eva's gaze focused on the black skid marks along the floor. Something was pulled into the yurt— something very heavy.
Darius gasped, "Eva?"
Eva appeared at his side in a second. A large machete dominated the table, followed by multiple knives of varying lengths. Hatchets and crossbows and rifles leaned against the wall. There was even a bear trap sitting open on a box.
"Fuck... Darius?"
Darius turned away from her and to a large sheet covered mass. He lifted the edge, revealing the horn of a sinoceratops. He gasped and tripped, falling over his own feet and crashing into the floor.
A stream of light connected with the floor, and in the doorway stood Mitch. Eva quickly pulled Darius to his feet and behind her.
"What you doing in here, D? Evangeline?"
"Hey, the only person who can call me Evangeline is Kenji, asshole!" she snapped.
"You're not eco-tourists," Darius spoke from behind Eva. "You're—"
"Big game hunters, yeah. At first I was annoyed Evangeline sussed us out the second she met us, but I'm glad you've seen this, Darius." He crossed the room, stopping short at the weapons table. Eva and Darius turned with him, Eva keeping the younger boy behind her. "Friends shouldn't lie to each other."
Darius backed up. His hand wrapped around Eva, pulling her with him. "You said you got our distress beacon."
Mitch picked up a twelve inch blade, twirling it in his hands. "Oh, yeah, no idea what that is, but we didn't want you asking questions." He waved the knife around at Eva, "Evangeline, again, pain in the ass, but hey! It all ended up working out." He raised a black tablet with his free hand. "Bought this ACU tablet off the black market. It was supposed to help us track the chipped dinos, but..."
"The grid's down," Eva guessed.
"Mhm."
Mitch set down the knife and tablet and picked up the crossbow, next. "And despite Hap coming highly recommended, he's been pretty useless at finding dinosaurs."
Mitch stepped closer. Eva and Darius stepped back, until Darius' back was pressed against the wall of the yurt.
"He doesn't know half the stuff about them, or the island, that you do."
"Back the fuck up, motherfucker," Eva snarled.
"Yeah, you're not in charge here, Evangeline. It's amusing you think you can fight this, but unfortunately for you, I need Darius' help."
The crossbow left his hand, and the twelve inch knife returned.
"How could you possibly think I'd help you kill dinosaurs? I thought you cared about them."
"I do," Mitch smiled. He crossed the room to the head of the sinoceratops. Eva pulled Darius in front of him and near the door of the yurt. "I've been waiting my whole life for this. Living, breathing dinosaurs, up close and personal?" He turned his back on them. "But Isla Nublar is under UN quarantine. The dinosaurs, they've been abandoned, forgotten. We're the last people to ever see them. I am trying to preserve the memory of Jurassic World."
"Mm, I grade it a six out of ten for villain monologues. It's not terrible, but it could be so much better."
Darius squeezed Eva's arm.
"Don't you get it?" Mitch's voice boomed. Eva flinched. A smile taunted his lips. "Thanks to us, these magnificent creatures will live on forever!"
"By mounting their heads on your wall!"
"Oh, I'm disappointed."
"Welcome to the club, asshole."
"I really thought we understood each other, D. But I'll make this easy for you."
Mitch's hand gripped Eva's wrist, pulling her away from Darius and into his body instead. Yanking her head back, the cool of a metal pressed into her skin. She chuckled against the blade.
"Y— what kind of a psychopath laughs with a knife against their neck?" Mitch asked.
"A psychopath with a knife kink," she admitted.
"Oh—" his grip loosened on her arms and she was shoved forward, out of the yurt. Eva's left foot caught on her right, and she tumbled forward. A dozen feet in front of her, Tiff had a grip on Sammy and Yaz. Mitch and Darius exited the yurt behind Eva.
"Why is her neck bleeding?!" Yasmina demanded.
"Oh, poor Evangeline is a pain in the ass."
Eva wiped the blood with the back of her hand. "Again, only Kenji can call me that!"
"Up, up!" he tutted. He looked at Darius as Eva stood. "You help us bag the dinosaurs we want, and we'll take you and your friends home. You don't, and we leave you all here. Abandoned and forgotten, just like the dinos. So, Darius... what's it gonna be?"
"Three outta ten!"