Chapter Fifty Six: I'll Do Whatever It Takes
~~~
Eva helped Yasmina move Sammy under the cover of their base to keep the rain off of her. Brooklynn brought a pillow down from her bunk, and positioned it under Sammy's head. Yaz sat on Sammy's left, her two hands wrapped in the clammy, pale one of Sammy's.
Eva slipped her hand into Sammy's other hand on her right, rubbing slow circles into her palm.
What else could she do? Sammy was injured— she was dying, and there was nothing any of them could do for her besides make her comfortable.
"Sammy, we're here. Everything's gonna be okay," Yasmina said through tears.
Brooklynn gasped loud enough to catch Eva and Yaz's attention. "The video on Wu's old lab! He was attacked by the Scorpios, and they were giving him this shot from a red vial. I think they said antidote, I'm not—"
Yaz was quick to her feet and to Brooklynn's side. "Where is this lab?" She demanded.
Brooklynn pulled out a map with an under construction symbol circled on it. "Near the raptor paddock."
Yaz studied the map a moment longer before shoving it back into Brooklynn's hands. "Take care of Sammy until I get back."
Is she going for the antidote? Who am I kidding, of course she is.
Yaz pushed through Darius and Kenji, running for the gate.
"Wait, Yaz! The Scorpios went that way!"
She turned on her heel, "I don't care what's out there! I'm saving her!"
A ball of jittery darkness settled into Eva's gut, and then her feet were moving before her brain could process. She slipped out of the gate, heading in the same direction as Yasmina. Her footsteps pounding against the mud and her heavy breathing was all she could focus on. Her friends shouted after her, but they didn't matter right now. Yasmina did. Sammy did. And Yaz couldn't do this alone.
Eva let Yasmina lead the way. She kept pace with her, but let her lead them to the lab. Yasmina was breathing heavily when the Scorpios' roar echoed through the open air.
How far away was it? Or how close?
Eva pulled Yaz behind a tree, but she shook her head. "We have to keep going."
She started, only to skid to a stop next to a rapids river. She paced a few feet of the riverbank, looking across it and back.
"We have to jump. You ever do long jump in track?"
"Once when I was twelve in a phys-ed unit. It's gonna be like that, isn't it?"
"Worse. Back up. Back up." Eva stepped backwards about twenty feet, where Yasmina stopped her. "You first."
Eva nodded, and let out a chilling breath before taking off. Her arms pumped beside her. As she neared the river break, the voice in her head screamed at her to back out, but her legs continued. At the last moment, she pushed off the river bank and flew over the river. One hand wrapped around the stem of a plant, using it as a handle. The other dug into a rock to keep her from sliding in the mud and falling into the river.
Her shoes up to her knees soaked in cool, rushing water. Eva put everything into pulling herself up the shore. When she removed her hand from the rock, her nails were bleeding, and when she removed her hand from the stem, a thin cut was spread across her palm, drawing blood.
"Ugh, gross, my shoes are all wet now," she grumbled.
Eva rubbed the blood on her pants, whipping around just in time to watch Yasmina fall backwards into the river. She gasped and rushed out her hand, but her friend was already headed downstream.
She ran after her, slipping in the mud ever so often. When she reached the bend, Yaz was clinging to a thick vine. Eva wrapped her hand around a tree trunk and reached out her other. The two girls connected hands, and Eva pulled her to the shore.
Yasmina collapsed next to the tree trunk, gasping for air. Eva could read the panic in her eyes, the fear. She had been where Yaz was twice now.
She grasped her hands. "Hey, look at me, Yaz." The brunette looked up slowly, her lips parted, her breathing shaky. "You're okay. You're okay. The hard part is over. Now we just have to run again. Can you do that? Run? I'll be by your side the entire time."
"L-let's go."
They stopped at a directory, which labebled the direction for Main Street, the lagoon, the aviary, and finally the raptors.
"That was right near the lab," Yaz said.
"We're almost there."
The two girls took off once more.
~~~
"Raptor paddock."
"Awe, and some cute parasaurolophuses-es-es."
Yasmina shot her a look that said, shut up.
They continued on through the jungle until they reached a small clearing next to an ugly, old building.
The two athletes climbed the tree next to the door, trying and failing to open it— the tree was blocking the door.
"Ugh, come on!"
"The tree! We can move the tree!"
"I think you are grossly overestimating what we can move."
"Do you want Sammy to die?" Okay, harsh, but maybe it'll turn out to be the right motivation for her. "Come on, come on." Eva pulled Yaz to the ground, then propped her feet against the tree and pushed her back against the wall. "This'll work," she said confidently, despite having the overwhelming fear that it wouldn't work, and Sammy wouldn't make it, and everything will have been for n—
The wood splintered as it shifted, but Yasmina quickly stopped.
"What—"
Her hand slipped over Eva's mouth.
A guttural clicking noise fell through the air. The Scorpios Rex.
They slid down, hiding themselves further beneath the tree. Loud, heavy footfalls retreated from the lab.
"Okay, let's try this again," Eva whispered. She sucked in a breath and pushed, but to no avail. "Yaz? ... Yasmina?"
Yaz rubbed at her eyes. "Push. Everything you got. Three, two..."
Eva didn't question her, and instead put everything into pushing against the tree. It began to shift. Centimeters, and then a few inches. They stopped, and Yaz quickly yanked the door open.
The door immediately led to steps, leading to another set of tunnels. Eva groaned, noting her hate for the tunnels as she followed after Yasmina.
They entered a room covered in slash marks and quills, tables overturned, equipment destroyed. The two began their search, looking in cabinets, under loose papers, and anywhere in between.
Yasmina picked up multiple mini bottles sitting on a table, muttering, "It's not here. It's not here." She slammed her fists against the table, scaring Eva. "It has to be here!"
She knocked over a white board, pushed an equipment piece away from her, threw a dozen loose papers into the air.
Eva slowly approached her, "Hey. Talk to me, Yasmina. Talk to me."
"I told her we weren't friends, and now she might die knowing that's the last thing I said to her..."
Eva nodded, pulling the athlete into a hug. "Come here. Shh, shh, shh. We are going to get the antidote, and get it to Sammy in time. I promise you. I'll do whatever it takes."
"Then where is it?" she cried, rubbing at her eyes.
"It has to be here," Eva assured. "Let's just take a deep breath, and then find it. Yeah?"
Yasmina nodded.
Eva and Yaz each took a deep breath, then went back to searching for the antidote.
A moment later, Yasmina gasped, showing off the antidote.
"Let's go."
~~~
They reached the raptor pen, only to stop at the sound of the Scorpios Rex snarling nearby. They turned, looking around in every direction, only for Eva to finally spot the beast eating a parasaurolophus behind them.
Eva softly tapped Yaz, motioning towards the hybrid dinosaur, that had yet to notice them.
Suddenly, the Scorpios Rex looked up, eyes caught on the two teenagers, and roared.
Eva scrunched her eyes shut, palms against her ears to block out the loud noise. Yaz dropped the antidote in an attempt to cover her own ears as well.
The Scorpios moved slowly, claws digging into the parsaurolophus, inching closer to the two girls.
"You need to get that to Sammy," Eva whispered. "I'm gonna distract it."
"What?" Yaz whispered back, "Are you—"
Eva slid her pointer and middle fingers into her mouth, and whistled as loud as she could. Yaz gasped, while the Scorpios trained its attention on her.
Okay, so I'm really going through with this...
Eva took off in a start, running in the opposite direction of camp.
She could hear the Scorpios on her tail the second she bolted, it's heavy footfalls chasing her down.
~~~
"Come on, Yaz."
The antidote case clutched tightly in her hands, Yaz took a step. And then another. A third. Her foot caught on a root, and she tumbled to the ground.
"Go, Yaz!" Sammy shouted.
"You brats!" Tiff snapped, wrestling with Sammy.
"Go!"
Yaz stood to her feet, took a step, and collapsed again. Panting, she pushed onto the balls of her feet again. Enduring her weak ankle, she stumbled closer and closer to Camp Cretaceous.
"I'm gonna distract it."
I'm gonna distract it.
Yaz leaned against a tree for support.
Sammy brought Yaz into a hug.
She pushed off again.
"Come here. Shh, shh, shh." Eva brought Yaz into a hug, letting the brunette's chin rest on her shoulder.
She panted, her ankle causing her to wobble forward. To limp.
"I've been trying to find a good time to tell you this... You're my best friend, Yaz, in the whole world. And I'm really glad we got to know each other."
Finally, Yaz spotted the bridge leading over the creek next to Camp Cretaceous. Finally, she spotted Sammy, Kenji and Brooklynn.
"I'm here, Sammy. I'm here." Yaz shoved the case in Brooklynn's hands. "Everything's going to be okay..."
Brooklynn drew the red liquid into the syringe, then picked up Sammy's arm. It was difficult finding a vein, but Brooklynn was too scared to give up. Straining her eyes, she found the inkling of a blue vein, and pushed the needle into Sammy's skin.
"Where's Angel?"
No one answered.
"Yaz, where is she?"
Yaz held Sammy's hand tighter, begging her to wake up.
"We got back as soon as we..." Ben faltered as he ran through the gate, and he approached Sammy slowly with Darius by his side.
"Is she...?"
"Come on," Yaz's voice cracked in a sob. "Come on, come on, come on, come on..." She pulled Sammy's hand to her forehead as tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. "Please. Please. Please, wake up. You have to. You're the best friend I've ever had. Forget what I said. We'll always be friends, no matter how far apart we are. It might not be easy, or perfect, but..." Her eyesight blurred with fresh unfallen tears. "Please wake up..."
Ben stepped away. Brooklynn and Darius hugged one another, and Kenji was on the brink of a mental breakdown.
Sammy wasn't going to wake up, and Yaz still hasn't answered him about Eva's whereabouts. Was she dead? Did he lose her before ever really having her?
Sammy hacked and coughed, struggling to breathe.
Everyone gasped, in immediate relief.
"Hey, Yaz."
"Hey, Sammy."
"How you feeling?"
"Like I got punched in the stomach by a porcupine. So, you know, better."
"Sammy, I am so happy you're alive and okay," Kenji preached. "But where the fuck is Evangeline?"
Yaz opened her mouth, but quickly closed it again. She brushed away tears.
"Where's Eva, Yaz?" Darius echoed.
"She sacrificed herself for Sammy... Told me to get the antidote back, no matter what. She led the Scorpios away from Camp. She..."
"No, no, no, no, no!"
Brooklynn tried to lay a hand on Kenji's shoulder, but he shook her off.
"Why didn't you stop her?!"
"I didn't have a choice! She whistled, then bolted in the opposite direction! The Scorpios ran after her, it— it gave me the path open to get here."
"What is wrong with you?!"
"Kenji!" Darius warned. "Eva's smart, and she's fast. For all we know, she's waiting at the boat for us already."
Kenji raked his fingers through his hair. He muttered, "This can't be happening. This can't be happening..."
"If anything..." Sammy spoke up. "She has... plot armor."
"What the fuck does that mean?!"
"She's gonna be fine, Kenji," Brooklynn said.
Darius sighed. "Let's get to the boat while there's a break in the storm."
"What about the Scorpios Rex?"
"What about Angel?!"
"We have to risk it..." Darius picked up a stray bag, and quickly stuffed a can of pineapple back inside. "We might not get another chance."
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do I feel evil leaving you guys on a cliff hanger?
yes.
are you getting a special third chapter?
nope!
hope you enjoyed!! don't forget to vote and comment <3
- atha