Chapter Forty One: Nothing Lasts Forever
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"Get in. I'll start it up," Darius announced.
Brooklynn and Ben took the front car, followed by Yasmina and Sammy in the second. Kenji took the third, and because Eva didn't really care to sit near him again, she slid into the fourth car with only Jarrell to keep her company. She pulled the restraint down over her head. She decided to keep Jarrell in her pocket, so he wouldn't fly out of her hands.
Darius ran over into the seat beside Kenji and in front of Eva, quickly hopping into it. He pulled his restraint down.
"How do we know this coaster will even—"
Kenji was cut off as the roller coaster hissed and began pulling forward.
The train clanked as it took them up their first hill.
"You see anything?" Darius shouted.
"Not me!" Sammy shouted, sounding panicked. "This thrill ride's way too thrillin' to keep my eyes open!"
"Sammy Gutierrez scared of coasters?" Eva shouted.
Sammy whimpered in response.
"Not that it'll help," Yaz said. "We don't even know what we're looking for."
"Yeah, I doubt even Brimford was crazy enough to leave a bunch of food laying around out in the open."
Pessimistic.
"He didn't, but he did leave another clue!" Ben yelled. "He painted his symbol on one of the concession stands!"
Yaz laughed. "That's awesome! You were right, D!"
"That's gotta be it."
"It just get's weirder and weirder."
The train dropped down the other side of the hill, gaining speed.
Eva burst into laughter, throwing her hands in the air. "Woohoo!"
"Whoo!"
"Yeah!"
"Awesome!"
The coaster turned a corner, and instead of an animatronic T-Rex, a very real Tarbosaurus roared at them. Its jaws clamped around the track, missing Eva by a foot.
A deafening scream left her lips as she covered her head and looked back.
The coaster headed into three large circles, climbing away from the tarbo.
"This cannot be happening!"
"How the fuck did it get in?!" Eva panicked.
The coaster dove again, nearly avoiding the dinosaur once more.
"What the fuck do we do?!" Sammy cried. "It'll be waiting for us!"
Eva's eyes widened, realizing this is the first time she had ever heard Sammy say the f word.
They started their trek up the last hill of the ride.
"We have to get out. We can climb down that railing."
Eva saw it— a thin metal ladder at the top of the coaster on a catwalk, right before the drop, leading to the ground.
Brooklynn and Ben popped open their restraints and climbed out.
"You can't do that!" Sammy said. "Can they do that?"
Yaz popped hers, and then Sammy's next. "Whoever designed this must've designed the park's other safety protocols, too."
Eva snickered as she pushed up on her restraint. It didn't move. She chuckled, pushing on it again. Her smile diminished as she shook the restraint. "What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!"
Her eyes found Sammy headed for the ladder, and she frantically pulled Jarrell out of her pocket and chucked it at her whilst calling her name. The noirette turned and caught the plushie with ease.
Eva turned back to her restraint, and began pushing and pulling it in every direction except down. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the tarbo knock over the animatronic T-Rex and take its place. Her eyes widened and she accidentally kicked the seat in front of her, groaning in pain.
"Oh! You're hanging back, too?" Darius asked from in front of her.
Why was he smiling? Why the hell was he smiling?
Her chest tightened and she frantically sucked in breaths, nearly gasping for air.
The train inched closer to the drop off zone. Closer to imminent death.
"I—" she locked eyes with Kenji, and continued to tug against her restraint.
His eyes widened. "Can you not—"
"Kenji! Kenji, I don't—" her eyes stung with fresh unfallen tears, and she breathed out in the form of a sob.
Tug. Tug. Tug. Nothing.
"Oh my god— oh my god! Eva—"
The train hit the edge of the hill, and flew down with speed.
Twenty feet.
Eva tugged on her restraint.
Fifteen feet.
A single tear rolled down her cheek.
Twelve.
The Tarbosaurus roared.
Eight.
Eva realized she was going to die.
Three.
She sucked in a breath.
Two.
Darius and Kenji jumped ship.
One.
The Tarbosaurus knocked into the train with such a force it was pushed off the tracks and into the water below.
The first thing Eva felt was an immense cold overtake every part of her body. She forced her eyes to open underwater, but everything around her was murky and dark. She pushed at the restraint. Salty tears mixed with dirty water. Her lungs began to burn. Her chest tightened.
She let go of the restraint, and her arms calmly floated to the side.
She was sideways? Of course she was. How long could she hold her breath? How long could she fight? Would drowning be as peaceful as Jenny led her to believe? How would she even make it out alive? The only working roller coaster seat belt, and she had the unluckiness of picking it?
Does Kai miss her? Do her grandparents? Maybe she should stop the struggle. Maybe she should breathe in the water. She could see her father again. Her mother. Maybe breathing in the water hurts less than holding air inside her lungs. Maybe everything will turn calm. Quiet. And then what?
Her eyelids fluttered shut.
Maybe...
Something brushed against her hand, and she jumped, eyes wide. She couldn't see much, but she could feel her restraint moving back and forth a centimeter. Or was that two? Wait; it was moving?
Eva pulled her elbows to her sides and snuck her hands under the restraint. Push.
Maybe she could survive this.
Push.
Air bubbles escaped her lips. Knives stabbed at her chest. She instinctively breathed in— oh no.
Her right hand slipped up to her mouth and nose, pressing against it hard enough that she felt like she was gasping for air while gasping for air.
Is this where she would die?
Push.
So many ways to die on Isla Nublar, and she goes out underwater?
Push.
It doesn't matter, does it? She'd never amount to anything, anyway.
Push.
She wasn't going to make a lasting impact on society, anyway.
Push.
Maybe she really is—
The restraint popped, and slowly was pulled up. Hands grabbed at her arms. They pulled her to the surface.
Eva's hoodie hung heavy on her body. Her shorts stuck tightly to her crotch. Her hair matted itself to her neck. And when she breathed in air again she damn nearly choked on it.
Water fell from her lips. She felt like collapsing, but hands held onto her forearms, keeping her steady.
She looked up and straight into Kenji's eyes. He was saying something, but everything still felt underwater to her. But his eyes were calm. Despite her panic, he was miraculously calm. A sob broke her lips, entered her hearing, and she threw herself against his body. Her arms wrapped around his torso so tight, because if she let go, she was afraid she would fall again.
His arms slowly enclosed her. His cheek rested against her temple.
Neither said anything. But Eva didn't need to, and Kenji knew that. Everything she wanted to say, all the words she couldn't work out were felt in that hug. Gratitude. Respect. Sorrow. Understanding.
Eva squeezed him harder.
"Okay, now I— I can't breathe," he joked.
She pulled back and sniffled. "I..."
"Eva."
She peered around Kenji's body to see Darius looking at her, worried.
"I..."
"Come on," Kenji whispered. "We should meet up with the others. They're going to be worried if we don't show soon."
Darius nodded, but didn't say anything.
Eva let Kenji pull her out of the water.
Every step on dry land felt like her body was anchored down. Her arms ached. Her shoulders ached. Her chest still burned. Her vision came out hazy and bright. But somehow she made it back to the others. They cheered when they spotted the soaked trio.
Sammy triumphantly handed Jarrell back to Eva, the latter of which stared at the small plushie, wondering what her obsession was with it. One of its eyes was slightly further up than the other. It was clearly a stegosaurus, but it didn't even have a tail.
Disfunctional.
Like her.
Eva's hands clamped around the plushie, and she pulled it quick to her chest. The soft fabric rubbed against her cheek comfortingly.
"So glad that worked," Kenji chuckled. His gaze lingered on Eva, who was being uncharacteristically quiet. Not that she didn't have a reason to, though. "Mostly because that awful smell is gone..."
"Hey, let's go check out the kiosk," Brooklynn suggested.
The others nodded, and quickly followed after her.
Except for Eva. And Kenji.
"Hey, Angel—" he kept his voice low, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay not to be okay."
"I'm fine," she choked.
Ha! Yeah, right.
"We should help the others."
Eva walked away from Kenji.
~~~
Eva found the campers just in time to watch them roll a kiosk forward. She sidestepped the kiosk and looked around the middle, where a large circular hatch sat in the ground with the HB signature written across the top, brachiosauruses and all.
"Yes, I knew we'd find it," Darius grinned. "It must lead to some kind of hidden bunker."
Click. Click. Click.
Everyone gasped. Hands pulled Eva down to the ground. She didn't have to look over the top to know it was the tarbosaurus. Of course it hadn't left the theme park. Of course it was still hunting them, for food more than anything now. Darius didn't reek, but that didn't mean the tarbo wasn't a carnivorous dinosaur that most likely wanted to eat them, still.
The heavy footfalls retreated.
Darius let out a breath. "She can't smell me anymore."
Brooklynn lifted a small cover at the edge of the hatch, revealing a keypad. "Looks like we need a key code to get inside."
"Ive got an idea," Kenji whispered. Eva watched him enter 1, 2, 3, 4. The keypad beeped at them rather aggressively. "Well, it's not one, two, three, four."
The campers groaned.
"What? Look, I thought Brimford was keeping it simple."
Eva spoke up, her voice rough and strained. "At least now we know it's a four digit code?"
"Your voice—"
Darius waved Sammy off, and Eva was glad for it.
Stomps once again drew closer, coming in from outside.
Eva sat down across from Ben, with Kenji on her left and open space on her right. She didn't quite like that, but there wasn't time to complain. The tarbo walked closer to them, then past, fading away.
Yasmina looked out over the top of the kiosk, then ducked down. "We have one more shot," she whispered. "If we're wrong, that alert will lead the tarbo right to us."
Eva gripped Jarrell in her right hand, and patted around with her left hand. Her water- wrinkled fingers wrapped around the soft ones on her left, and squeezed. She didn't dare look at him, though.
"Sammy, that book you found," Brooklynn whispered. "What did it say about this place again?"
"The Hidden Adventure was supposed to open in... 2015, ten years after Jurassic World opened."
"In 2005, so what?" Kenji said.
"So maybe one of the dates is the code?" Yasmina guessed.
The tarbo stomped so close to the campers that the kiosk they were hiding in rocked. Glass shattered nearby. Eva sucked in a breath, and squeezed Kenji's hand tighter.
The tarbo walked closer, and began sniffing at a trash can ten feet away from the campers. All the tarbo had to do was look left, and they were dead.
Eva turned her head to the left, away from the tarbo. Into Kenji's shoulder. Her lip quivered. The sound of the trash can being knocked over made her jump.
The words, "you're okay," were whispered to her so lowly, so lightly, she was convinced she had just imagined it.
The steps continued past the kiosk, but Eva didn't dare open her eyes.
After several moments, Ben gasped. "Guys, the booth number, 2974. Brimford could have used that as the code, so he wouldn't forget."
"And so Owen could find it, too," Darius whispered back.
He crawled over the others and crouched in front of the keypad.
Yasmina asked, "Didn't Brimford's note say something about the 'way in' being, 'the beginning of the end'?"
"Yeah, but is the 'beginning of the end' when Jurassic World opened in 2005, or when Hidden Adventure would have opened in 2015?"
Eva imagined Ben shaking his head at her. "Or did he mean this is the beginning of getting into the bunker, which is the end of our journey? 2974!"
"Eva."
Eva opened her eyes, blinking a few times. She looked at Darius, who was a blur in her eyes.
"What do you think?"
"I don't... I don't know."
"What do you think, Eva? I'll type whatever you say."
Fuck, okay. Way to put the pressure on her.
Beginning of the end... Jurassic Park fell in 1993... John Hammond died in 98'. When John Hammond died, he died a naturalist— he wanted his creations to be left alone from humanity, according to the news tabloids, anyways. But when Simon Masrani acquired InGen, he created Jurassic World with the intention of a newer, better version of Jurassic Park. So Masrani had to have known how Jurassic Park fell, and he still decided to do it all over again. Unless he didn't? Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The beginning of the end.
Eva looked up from the ground to realize everyone was staring at her. Nearby, the tarbo roared.
"2005."
Darius nodded. "Two, zero, zero five," he whispered as he punched the code into the keypad.
The keypad beeped, but it wasn't aggressive and long. It was short and sweet. It was a good beep. The hatch opened.
"Come on!"
Eva, being the closest, slid in first. Kenji followed suit, followed by Brooklynn, Yaz, Sammy, Ben, and finally Darius. The tarbo roared down on them, and inadvertently shut the hatch, closing them in.
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this chapter is baby.
- Atha